Happy Halloween Week!
by Combined Gamers
Summary: So, all of these mini stories are based off of the Lapidot Halloween Week, and I thought it would be a fun idea to do 3 for all of them! Pumpkins/Black Cats, Full Moon/Witches, Haunting/Ghost Hunting, Autumn/Free Day, Costumes/Decorations, Candy/Tricks/Treats, Halloween. Enjoy!
1. Black Cat 1

Peridot huffed, and kicked a small pebble into their smaller than average lake. She was upset, it was easy to see. A chilly breeze ruffled her soft blonde hair, a few red and gold leaves drifting in the wind. Something the humans called "fall" was upon them, Peridot liked this season, it was around the time when Lapis started to live in the Barn.

Speaking of her roommate… Lapis had found a small black "cat" (apparently a creature she was often compared to, she'd have a word with the Crystal Gems later) wandering around the Barn. Now, Peridot had expected this to go down much like the time they'd found a raccoon. It had gotten mean and Lapis' water powers had made it go away. This time? No. This time, the blue gem seemed to be infatuated by the tiny monster creature, she followed it around, tried to give it water, food, toys, anything Steven suggested to her.

Peridot had been happy, Lapis found something she really liked! That was always a good thing… But now… It was all she wanted. She spent so long fawning over that damned cat, she didn't want to watch TV, or make meep-morps, or just… Play around anymore. The small gem sat down, hugging her knees.

"Here kitty! Where are you?" Lapis called. Hm, maybe the stupid fuzzball ran away again. Peridot hoped it would STAY gone. She didn't like it anymore, she had no idea why. Lapis hung out with the others sometimes, and she felt perfectly fine, but then that cloddy, fuzzy little beast had stolen all of her attention, and that was just something Peridot _didn't_ feel fine with. She tried levitating a small can, but to no avail, her emotions were too scrambled and unidentifiable to use her powers.

"Stupid, furry, lousy little clod." She cursed, "Lapis was _my_ best friend, now she wants nothing to do with me. Dumb cat, I hate it. Smelly, ungrateful, rotten fuzzball, probably doesn't even now how great Lapis is. She's doing so much to make that cat her friend, and it doesn't even care, just runs off when she gets close!"

"Meow."

Peridot's eyes widened, speak of the proverbial devil. It was staring at her with those creepy golden eyes, chest puffed out, face smug as it licked its lips. Lapis must have given the damn thing "tuna". It smelled gross and looked even more disgusting.

"Go away." The technician hissed. "I hate you. Go cough up a hairball." She snarled more and more insults and threats, she had no idea why she hated this creature so much, all she could think about was that this was the time of day she and Lapis liked to play in the cornfield. It still sat there, grooming its paw. "I said… GO AWAY!"

She reached a foot out to kick it. In the blink of an eye the cat not only hissed loudly at her but swiped out its paw. Peridot didn't know cats had such sharp claws, it ripped through the thin clothing she had, and slashed her bright green skin open. Teal blood welled up, along with a few tears as the little green gem cried out in pain.

Lapis chose a bad time to come out of the Barn, or maybe it was the best time. She'd been trying to find Fluffy, he'd run off again, but Steven said he might eventually get used to her.

Though earlier she'd been a bit upset, the Ocean Gem had just realized that, through tying to bond with the little creature she found somewhat cute, she'd ignored her best friend. Peridot had been wanting to play earlier, and Lapis had practically ignored her, she felt… Awful.

She didn't want to ignore Peridot, that was wrong. The blue haired gem wanted to say sorry, but how?

During her thoughts however, she'd heard Peridot scream at something to go away before crying out as if it had struck her. Lapis ran outside to see Peridot sitting in the grass, Fluffy right in front of her, hissing and growling as the tiny gem sniffled.

Her leg was bleeding… This sweet, playful, wonderful Gem, she'd been jealous of the cat. It attacked her… It attacked her Peridot. (Her Peridot? Where did THAT come from?)

Slowly, with an angry frown and her famous eerie death glare, she raised a large water hand from the pond. "You… You mangy little BEAST!" Lapis snarled. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"

She brought the hand down, swatting at the cat, pushing it back a few feet and drenching it in the water. It hissed furiously, Lapis flicked the small pebble in the water at its head. The cat ran off, never to be seen again.

"L-Lapis…. *sniff* I'm so sorry, I know how much you liked the cat." Peridot sobbed, the blue gem knelt down and looked at the three cuts on her leg. Taking a bit of the water, she gently washed them before ripping her skirt (she could repair it, it was just a part of her projection, she didn't really care) and tying it around the blonde's leg.

"I don't like it anymore. Are you okay?" She asked, but when Peridot didn't respond she pulled the little gem towards her into a hug. "Peri… I'm the one who should be sorry. I ignored you, and that was awful. I promise, I'll never do that again." She spoke with a soft, gentle tone, and tightened her hug, smiling a bit when she felt arms around her neck.

"Why did you like the cat so much in the first place? A-and what changed?" Peridot asked.

Rubbing her back and keeping a bubble of cold water close to Peridot's leg Lapis responded. "At first, it… It reminded me of you. It's not fun when you go on missions with the others, I'm all alone here, I don't want you to stop going because it makes you happy, but I thought it would be nice to have something around that reminds me of you." The bluenette explained. "And what changed? Well, it hurt my favourite gem."

She felt Peridot stiffen a little, and was afraid she'd crossed a line. "Your favourite?" The tiny gem was looking up at her, her head on Lapis' shoulder. "Are you sure? You really mean it?"

The water gem giggled and snorted at the technician's expression, eyes wide and twinkling as if they were filled with stars. "Yes, I'm sure. You're so much better than some… What did you call it when you thought I wasn't looking?"

Peridot started to blush. "I um… I called it many things. One such name was, um, ' Stupid, furry, lousy little clod'…" She admitted, and looked down again at her leg. "It hurts…"

Lapis frowned at that, she squeezed the gem in her arms, a warm feeling pulsing through her gem as Peridot nuzzled into her collarbone. "Now, I'm not Steven, but I think there's something I could do to make you feel a bit better."

The blonde went shy, curling up a bit. "If you're going to apply a k-kiss… To my wound, y-you know it won't work." She said softly. Lapis nodded, she knew that she couldn't heal wounds the way her little buddy did, but… At least she knew a way to bring comfort.

"I won't kiss your cuts Peri." She told her. "I just wanna kiss you."

There was a soft squeak, but not from Peridot. The second those words had left the blue gem's lips the tiny gem in her arms had kissed her, and in that moment Lapis knew that she would never be alone again.

Lapis loved Peridot, and Peridot loved her right back.


	2. Pumpkin 2

"Okay Peri, I'll be back soon, I promise!" Said Lapis, who spread her wings and took off into the sky. Peridot waved to her as she watches her fly. The little gem smiled softly, Lapis looked so pretty when she flew during a sunset, the orange glow making her wings sparkle.

"Arrf!" She jumped upon hearing Pumpkin bark and whine. The sentient veggie was probably a bit unhappy about her… 'Mother' leaving. According to Steven, Peridot and Lapis were Pumpkin's mothers. They were totally fine with these titles, as they both loved their sweet pumpkin.

"Don't worry, Lapis will be back home soon. She just went to deliver some of their home grown vegetables over to Steven." The blonde told the little orange creature, but she was still upset, understandable.

Peridot took hold of Pumpkin's vine and walked with her over a nest of soft pillows that they had made by playing around with them in the corner. "Come on, I know you miss Lapis, but it'll be fine." She grabbed a pillow and fluffed it. Pumpkin grabbed a small blanket and ran into her lap, knocking the blonde over before licking her face. "Hey! That tickles!"

"Arrf! Ruff ruff!" Pumpkin barked and bounced around, most of her hops directly onto the green gem's stomach causing her to laugh even more.

"O-okay! I get it, you're happy because of earlier!" Peridot said through her laughter. Earlier that day Lapis had found a somewhat small, bright silver ball, and the two Gems had played with it, tossing it to each other, throwing it for Pumpkin to bring it back to them. "Yeah, Lapis is good at finding things, huh? That's why we love her."

Pumpkin made an odd purring noise, and snuggled into her. "She's smart isn't she? I mean, she doesn't match my brilliant intellectual levels, but I'd say she comes quite close." Pumpkin purred again and licked her face.

It was like a light-bulb had lit up within the green Gem's mind, Pumpkin was happy when she talked about Lapis! Peridot knew she would often get a dorky, silly little grin whenever she did, and she also knew that Pumpkin liked to see her mothers happy.

"Alright, well I know you love it when she reads, and you get to sit in the sun with her. And that you like her holding you!" The technician chirped, and Pumpkin wiggled where she sat, smiling at the green Gem. "I like seeing her fly, she's so fast, and can do all those tricks too!"

She remembered watching the blue Gem soar through the sky, a little hard to see sometimes, but most of the time the sunlight made her wings glimmer, Peridot was entranced with it, but was a bit too shy to ask Lapis if she could carry her during one of her flights.

"She's sweet too. It was a few days before you were born, but there was a rainstorm at one point, and I was frightened by it. Lapis was right there, distracting me from the storm and hugging me, telling me it was fine to be scared, that was normal. You don't know this Pumpkin, but… Where I came from, everything is different."

Pumpkin stared at her, eyes filled with wonder. "When Lapis lived there, Gems were a bit more free, at least… They didn't have to worry about resources, they could make all kinds of things and their world was much more vibrant, alive." She explained, and though her smile wanted to fade she wouldn't let it, she didn't want Pumpkin to see her upset. "When I was made, resources were low. We couldn't make beautiful things anymore, we had to limit everything. They wouldn't have been able to make a pretty, powerful Gem like her."

At that, Pumpkin glared a bit. She hopped off of her spot in Peridot's lap and ran over to the other side of the Barn. The little veggie came back a moment later with a rolled up paper held gently in her mouth, she set it down in front of the tiny Gem.

Confusion flowed through her, she'd never seen this before, Lapis had to be the one to own this, as Peridot knew where all her things were. But the problem was, Lapis usually just left her stuff out in the open, because she knew Peridot wouldn't go through it, this had to have been hidden.

Guess she never accounted for Pumpkin being a little snoop.

Peridot carefully unrolled it, and her eyes widened. Lapis had drawn a picture of her. No visor showing off her bright blue eyes, an adorable smile, soft fluffy hair, shiny gem on her forehead, it looked just like Peridot. She had written on it too, 'Peridot the Crystal Gem', 'Pretty eyes', 'Her hair feels nice', 'Sweetest Gem I've ever met'…

And on the bottom, in the corner?

'Era 1 can eat its heart out, THIS is a good Gem, tough, smart AND pretty as a star. I hope she knows that. Homeworld's missing out on its Crown Jewel!'

Crown Jewel. That was the highest compliment you could ever give someone, it was an archaic expression of love, it meant that you saw the other Gem as perfect, fit to walk even higher than White Diamond herself, a precious stone that was better than anyone else. A Queen.

Peridot sniffled, she couldn't stop smiling as she wiped tears away. She knew that handwriting, it was Lapis' handwriting… This was what she thought of the little nerdy Gem. Lapis thought so highly of her, she loved her too!

She hugged Pumpkin as tightly as she could without hurting the veggie. "Thank you, thank you for showing me this." Peridot whispered, with shaking hands and the smile never leaving her face, she rolled the paper back up and let Pumpkin put it back.

The two of them snuggled together in the blankets, and though Peridot tried to fight it, she wanted so badly to wait for Lapis to get home… She fell fast asleep.

Lapis got home a little while later, yawning as she landed at the Barn's entrance. "Peri?" She called softly, only for a surprised grin to appear on her face at the sight of the little green Gem curled up with Pumpkin, snoring softly in a peaceful slumber.

The blue Gem chuckled to herself, and knelt down at them. She took Peridot's visor off, and pulled more of the blanket over her, tucking her in. "Goodnight, Crown Jewel." She whispered and pressed a soft kiss onto the green Gem's cheek.

She hadn't actually done anything when she'd left, just waited at the silo. But she had given Pumpkin instructions on what to do before she'd left. To show Peridot the drawing she'd 'hidden'.

It was about time Peridot knew how loved she was.


	3. Pumpkin 3

Something smelled good. No, GREAT. Peridot sniffed the air, something within this shop had a delightful scent. Lapis was busy at work, and had given Peridot quite a bit of spending money. The blonde was honestly shocked that Lapis was perfectly okay with Pearl driving her out to the mall to shop, the blue haired woman had grown to be even more overprotective in these last few months.

Although, considering that the blonde was about 3 months pregnant, maybe it was understandable. Peridot was still cheerful though, she liked this season so much, why? Because not only was it the season she met Lapis, but Halloween night was the anniversary of the blonde being brought to the older woman's house.

She chuckled at the memories of having been scared of Lapis, nowadays she couldn't possibly imagine being afraid of her wife, even if she had kidnapped Peridot, she'd done it out of love.

"Peridot? Are you ready to go?" Pearl asked, since the tall woman was the short girl's ride home. Peridot... Couldn't drive, yes she knew it was odd considering she DID very much like cars, and had once been a mechanic, but she had never driven a car in her life.

"Hang on, I want to buy these. They smell so good, think Lapis would like them too?" She looked over at the peach haired woman, Pearl was buying something for Azul, her sister, since it was her favourite holiday coming up. Pearl nodded and smiled at her, a large box of cinnamon buns in her arms.

The two of them headed home, Peridot now had not only the candles but a small pair of earrings for her sweetheart. She quickly went up the stairs and knocked on the door to Ruby and Sapphire's room, "Hey Ruby, I need help with something."

The older woman opened the door after a few seconds, there were dark circles under her eyes, she and Sapphire were up late last night on watch duty, the blonde felt a little bad for disturbing them. "What's wrong Peridot? What do you need?" She asked, keeping her voice low, as the Greek woman could hear Sapphire snoring softly from within her and Ruby's room.

"I bought these candles, I need you lighter to light them, please?" She asked, and Ruby handed her a small lighter from her desk, the brunette mostly used it to light her own candles if she and her wife wanted a romantic dinner. "Thank you, I'll bring it right back I promise."

She was so excited for when her wife came home, she always missed Lapis so much, and things were so much easier with her wife around. The tiny girl was still getting a bit of morning sickness, and she was exhausted more easily. Peridot grabbed the small tray of mini pumpkin pies that sat near her bed and ate a few, they were so good, she had no idea why she wanted pumpkin flavoured or scented things so... badly...

Oh.

Peridot started to laugh, Halloween was coming and she was craving pumpkins! She put a hand on her belly, a bump was growing there now and had been since a week ago. "You already have a sense of humour, don't you? God I already love you so much... 6 more months and I can meet you, I can't wait."

She shivered, her room was a bit cold... The Greek woman grinned, this was perfect! She now had a pretty good excuse to sneak into Lapis' old room, the blue haired woman only used it for storing things now, and for... Stuff. Peridot could feel her cheeks burning as she got up from her bed, she checked her phone.

No new messages, that usually meant that Lapis was going to be home soon. Peridot sighed, she wished Lapis would be home NOW, so that she could show her lovely wife the surprise. The tiny girl slipped into the dark room, and grabbed a blanket off of Lapis' other bed, one that was used to keep the blonde warm and feeling secure if they needed to stop their games. Peridot wrapped the thick blanket around herself and sighed with bliss. Garnet had just done laundry, it had been in the dryer, and was warm and softer feeling.

Peridot went back into her room, set one of the candles up safely, lit it (gave Ruby back her lighter) and curled up in a makeshift nest with the blanket and a bunch of pillows, not to mention Lapis' old sweater that served almost like a little cape. She yawned, and took in the scent from the sweet candles.

The small woman perked up immediately upon seeing Lapis walk into her room. "Hi cutie, I missed you." Her wife cooed and knelt down beside the bed. She glanced over at the candle and her dark blue eyes filled with curiosity. "What's this? It smells good."

"It's one of the candles I bought today, to me that smell is heaven. You really like it?" She asked hopefully, Lapis nodded and pulled her closer. Peridot wrapped her arms around the blue haired woman's neck. "I missed you so much angel."

She backed up a bit to allow her wife get onto the bed. "I know sweetheart, I'm off work tomorrow, and we can cuddle as much as you want." Lapis held her close, the blonde taking a deep breath to smell her new candle. "And we can go out for dinner together, if you want. O-or you know... We could go out tonight."

Peridot looked up, the taller girl was blushing brightly, a shy look in her eyes as a sheepish smile could be seen. She giggled softly, even after all this time her wife, a terrifying mob boss who would kill anyone who dared flirt with the little woman, was still so shy about asking her out on a date.

"We'd love to go." The Greek woman said before giving Lapis a little peck on the cheek, and though Lapis smiled she looked a little confused.

"We?"

Peridot began to give a fake pout and pointed to the small bump on her stomach. "The baby's hungry too, we're starving!" She whined, and Lapis sat up, the blonde still in her arms.

"My poor babies." She cooed and gave Peridot a kiss, before the blonde could open her mouth and let this all go in another direction (oh her hormones were so messed up, she'd been caught staring at the blue haired woman's butt more than she could count since the start of her pregnancy) Lapis pulled away, smiling sweetly as she leaned down to kiss the short girl's stomach. "Come on, let's go get you some dinner."

The two criminals were grinning brightly as Lapis set Peridot down, blew out the candle, and started to walk downstairs with her. "Y'know Peri-baby, there's this one place with a lot of special desserts. What are you going to want when we get there?"

The blonde woman just chuckled a bit and slipped her shoes on, "I'm thinking... Pumpkin pie."

Lapis snorted and laughed, "I had a feeling."

Then, with a devilish smirk, Peridot grabbed her hand, pulled her down and whispered into her ear. "Then when we get home, you."


	4. Full Moon 1

"Yes! Finally, it's done!" Peridot cheered with excitement, the short girl had been working all throughout the week to fix it, and with luck and a few bandages (that she prayed Lapis wouldn't see) she'd finally fixed the old gramophone lying around their barn/home.

The two of them had made a life here thanks to Steven, who'd rescued them from a circus so many years ago. All their pain was over now, their suffering simply a bad dream. She'd been part of the freak-show, a tiny woman with fake little fangs forcefully glued onto her teeth and convincing cat ears on her head.

The Human Kitten.

Lapis had a much crueler fate though, though she'd been crowned 'Prettiest girl on Earth' due to her beauty she'd been subjected to much worse treatment. Forced to dance and take off her clothes for strangers to fawn over, to try and touch her. There were many nights where Peridot would hold her wife close and let her cry from the pain of those memories. She would keep Lapis close to listen to her heartbeat and sing to her, even if she thought her voice sounded funny Lapis loved it.

And... There were many nights of Peridot trying her hardest not to wake her beloved when she woke up from her nightmares. The circus wasn't kind to her, she wasn't to make human noises, so she tried to keep silent... It was a hard habit to break. One time she'd sobbed out loud by accident and woken up her wife.

"Peridot?" She'd asked groggily. "Peri! Are you okay?" Lapis had sat straight up and seemed to be looking her over to check if she'd been hurt, the blonde was... Clumsier than she'd like to admit. "Why are you crying?"

The short woman had shook her head, "N-nothing, it's okay I-I... I..." She let her voice trail off when Lapis pulled her into her arms. The taller woman gently stroked her hair and kissed along her hairline.

"Peridot, it's okay to cry. You don't have to stay strong for me." The blue haired woman whispered. "Don't you dare tell me it's nothing, just because you think what happened to you doesn't matter."

"You had it so much worse though-"

"That doesn't mean you didn't suffer, who cares about who had it worse? Peridot... I love you so much, it kills me to know you want to hide your pain from me." Her words had made Peridot crumble, the blonde immediately started to sob into her wife's shoulder. "Oh baby, it's okay, I've got you. I'm right here, I'm not gonna let go, I promise." She'd rubbed Peridot's back and given her gentle kisses, the next day the two had gone out for a beautiful night on the town.

Now though, in late October, it was far too cold to stay out too long, but the blonde wanted her wife to feel good after a long day at work. She was the one with the job, a kindergarten teacher. Peridot sold a lot of the food that grew in the fields around the Barn. Since the blonde was a fast learner, she was a pretty good cook, so she figured she would try something brand new for her and her wife.

When Lapis got home, she would be treated to an old ragtime song they loved on the gramophone, having her back and shoulders massaged, (Peridot was good at that too! She had too many skills to count, being smug was one of them) and her favourite dinner.

The blonde jumped a bit when the lights flickered, she knew it was raining hard outside but... Was it actually storming? A loud rumble answered her question, followed by a flash outside. She squealed in fear before the lights went out. The only light in the house was that of the full moon peeking through holes in the clouds, which quickly faded to nothing.

A flash of horror sparked in her. If the power was out... The oven had turned off too...

And their chicken was almost ready, along with their bread and pasta. None of it was ready, and Lapis would be home any second. The blonde sniffled, she'd worked so hard to make Lapis happy, always scared she wasn't good enough. "Why...? Why me? I just wanted to give her a good night.", Lapis always loved the full moon, and just a few hours ago it had been shining so brightly... Then a rainstorm. God Peridot hoped Lapis was okay.

Before any real tears could fall, the doorknob jiggled and turned as Lapis quickly made her way into the house carrying not only her purse but a small flat box. She had been driving home before the rain started, though her hair was a little damp. "Hi baby." She started before she noticed the upset look on the blonde's face. "Peridot? What happened, why's it so dark in here? Are you okay?"

The smaller woman looked up at her. "Lapis I'm so sorry, I was planning a good night for us, I-I made dinner, and fixed the gramophone! I mean, I can still rub your back if you want, but it's going to be in the dark…" She let her hundred mile an hour speech trail off. "The power's out from the weather."

Lapis gave a faint smile. "You wanted to do all that for me?" She asked, and moved closer to her, she put her things down before Peridot felt slender arms wrap around her waist. "I love you."

The short girl blushed, her wife was so pretty she couldn't help but let her face turn pink, even from a single hug. Peridot let out a squeak when Lapis not only squeezed her but pressed a kiss against her cheek. "I love you too, but aren't you upset? I-I mean, dinner isn't ready, and it won't be-"

She was silenced by a finger over her lips. "I'll be honest with you." Lapis said softly with a happy smile. "I didn't think you'd make me dinner, so… I bought a few slices of pizza for us." The blue haired woman explained. "Although having my wonderful wife rubbing my back would be nice. And Peri, you should know by now, even if it's not fancy, I'd be more than happy to spend time with you."

Any signs of unhappiness long forgotten, Peridot grinned at her. "Come on then, you sit down, I'll get us plates, and the gramophone works without electricity so we can listen to music!" She squealed, and watched as Lapis sat down on their couch, the short girl grabbed a plate (no longer caring about the storm outside, her wife was home now and she felt safe) and served the both of them their dinner.

Faint music was playing not long after, old swing music from long ago. Small hands carefully massaging the teacher's back and shoulders, making Lapis feel like melting into her touch. For the first time in her hectic day, Lapis felt true bliss.

Peridot felt it too.


	5. Witches 2

"Burn the Witch!" People roared with anger as Lapis was tied to a wooden pole. She cried out for help, for them to spare her, that she hadn't done anything to hurt them, and never would.

All she'd wanted was herbs to store in her hollow for winter so she could heal herself if she got sick, and she would gladly share it with others. But she had been caught near the river, using her hydrokinesis to clean off the plants, they beat her mercilessly, chained her up, and mocked her when she'd begged for food or water.

This had gone on for 3 days, she was starving and had only been given very little amounts of water. The blue haired woman was ready to collapse, her skin was covered in bruises, scrapes, and cuts, her clothes were ripping too.

"Kill her! Burn her!"

Tears slipped down Lapis' face. A single voice rang out in the crowd. "Leave her alone!"

They fell silent when a single person fell, the crowd parted, and the shaking Witch could see a man lying on the ground bleeding from his nose, he'd screamed for Lapis to be killed. Before him was a short blonde woman, green eyes that were filled with rage as she wiped blood off her hand. "I said..." She leaned in close to the man, her boot on his chest. "Leave. Her. Alone."

The woman looked around, no one wanting to be near her. "That goes for all of you. I'm taking her with me."

The blonde woman stepped up onto the small, alcohol soaked platform they had shoved Lapis onto. "It's okay now, you're safe." She gently murmured, and Lapis very suddenly realized that this girl was actually taller than her, at least by a foot! Using the sword strapped onto her back, she managed to cut the ropes that kept the Witch tied up.

The second the ropes snapped Lapis fell to her knees. The young girl looked up at her, she could barely hold herself up anymore, every inch of her body ached. The blonde girl knelt down to her level. "My name's Peridot, I'm not going to hurt you, I want to take you to my home, you'll be safer there, and I can help you get better."

Lapis nodded, she felt powerful arms under her knees and back, along with the feeling of being lifted gently from the ground. Weakly she lifted her arms to try to hold on to Peridot's neck, but the tall woman just shook them off. "Save your strength, it'll be okay, I promise."

Her broken voice managed to get through, "Why are you helping me?" She managed to ask before starting to cough.

Peridot glanced at her, bright green eyes filled with worry. "You don't remember me? I'm the girl whose life you saved." She explained, "Last winter, a lot of people were getting sick, and I'd heard of you, a Witch who could help with sickness. Everyone was too scared of you, but I needed you."

"And I healed you, it was Green-throat, you had such a high fever, but I gave you milkberries and..." Lapis' voice trailed off, and for good reason too. She'd passed out from pain and exhaustion, and was now limp in Peridot's arms.

The young woman fought the urge to panic. She knew what to do though. Get Lapis to her home, get her into a warm bed and give her medicine, food and water. She was smart, she had control of the situation, it was going to be okay.

She layed the blue haired woman down in the center of large bed, tucking her in with a blanket and making sure her pillow was soft enough. She'd admit to having a slight crush on the local Witch, she was kind and lovely, not to mention had treated her so sweetly when she'd been sick.

She'd felt Peridot's forehead, which had been burning from her high fever. The blonde's body felt too hot and too cold, she shivered under the heavy blankets, thankful that the cave Lapis lived in was a nice temperature even in winter, and that she was so deep in that the snow didn't dare reach. Her throat had been burning, it felt hard to breathe. "Just relax Peridot, the medicine I gave you had milkberries in it, you'll be feeling better in no time. I made soup for you, but if you want to nap now that's okay too."

The blonde had nodded, and looked at her through bleary eyes, she was thankful for the cold water the Witch had given her. "I'm really tired, but... Can you stay with me?"

It seemed Lapis had been surprised by the blonde's request, her deep blue eyes had widened and her lips curled into an 'o' shape. But she had nodded, and stayed on her spot on the bed. She'd told Peridot that Green-throat was only contagious to humans, and the blonde weakly reached out to her. "P-please, I'm scared, can... Can I hold onto you?" Peridot asked, her fever making her childish.

After a few seconds of silence from the blue haired woman, Lapis had layed down beside her, and Peridot had snuggled right up and smiled before drifting off to sleep.

The truth was, Peridot had known her since they were young. The blonde had looked very different as a child though, her hair was a paler blonde, darkening to its golden colour in her teen years, she wasn't nearly as tall with no muscles to speak of. Oh, and she didn't have glasses, she'd had no idea that not being able to see close up things wasn't normal.

As a child, Lapis had lived with her parents in the village, the people had tolerated her mother and father, but hated her. Lapis had no friends, no one who wanted to play with her. Even from a young age Peridot was driven to do good things. Every day she would find a gift for the Witch, a flower, a shiny rock, leaves, or a piece of fruit. She would hide behind a tree every day to hear Lapis run to her mom and dad to happily squeal about her new present from her secret friend. They'd been so young, it seemed only yesterday they were 7 years old, and Peridot had been too shy to talk to her.

Now she sat on the end of her own bed, a bowl of warm soup in her hands and a cup of cold water. Lapis opened her eyes and looked over at her. "Peridot... I remember so much about you. You gave me things when we were little, I saw it was you but I knew you were too shy... Now look at you, famous hero."

The blonde felt her cheeks heat up at the word hero. "I prefer explorer, I mean, I help people, but that's just me being kind. I mean, someone out there has to do some good things."

Lapis nodded. "Yeah, but even little things can make you great. I mean, you go where no one else wants to, and for fun. I'd be so scared going down into those caves, but you? You go in, grab treasures and leave like it's nothing."

Peridot chuckled. "Next time I find something I really like, I'll share it with you." She told her. "By the way, I made you chicken soup, it's not the same as yours but I think it's good."

She watched as Lapis slowly sat up, wincing in pain at the bruises all over her body. Peridot moved in close and started to feed her, giving her all the water she wanted. After all of that, Lapis seemed to be in bliss. "Thank you. You saved my life."

"Well, you saved mine." Peridot replied. Lapis settled back down, but when the blonde went to tuck her back in she frowned. "What's wrong? Are you too warm?"

Lapis shook her head. "No, but I'm alone. I know this will sound familiar... Can I cuddle you?"

Peridot had nodded happily. "I'd be happy to."

The two curled up together under the blanket, and in that moment Lapis was very sure that Peridot made her more than happy.

She made her feel love.


	6. Witches 3

"Amethyst, this isn't going to work." Said Garnet, but the short girl shook her head. Frankly, she didn't care whether or not this worked, it would still be that precious extra credit to get her grade up, if she failed Potions class her aunt would be pissed. "If this doesn't blow up in your face, I'll take you to dinner."

She was a Potions teacher after all, Amethyst was expected to do at least well enough for a B+. "So? I have to try. It looks cool, and I mean, sure a lot of these don't work, but they can be pretty funny. Besides, P-Dot deserves it. She's had a crush on Lazuli since we were little, it's hilarious! So, being the amazing big sister-"

"Cousin."

"SISTER... That I am, I'm gonna help her." Amethyst said firmly. She'd lived with Peridot since they were kids, the blonde was her (barely) younger cousin. Amethyst's parents had died when she was just a young girl, leaving her to the care of her aunt and uncle.

Now, YOU may have a bad feeling of where that would lead, but it didn't. Peridot was more than happy to finally have a friend, she was... Quite hyper. Fun though, even if she made for a big rule around the house.

Do not, under any circumstance, give Peridot caffeine. Amethyst had groaned upon hearing that, it would have been hilarious!

Oh well, she'd settle for this. The purple haired witch dropped a few of those bleeding heart flowers into the cauldron, along with strawberry milk so Lapis would drink it. "I hope this doesn't taste nasty, I really don't wanna wash this out of my hair." She'd pulled a prank on Lapis before, the blue haired girl had dumped the ice cold coffee Amethyst had said was chocolate milk all over the shorter girl. She didn't care, she deserved it anyway, that was the risk of being a prankster.

Amethyst opened up a tiny glass box, inside was a single strand of blonde hair from Peridot's pillow, it was easy to get considering Peridot's bed was right next to hers (Amethyst was allowed to sleep in her room due to her cousin's anxiety and homesickness turning into literal sickness, along with the fact that Amethyst didn't want anyone picking on her for being different) and the blonde took hours to shower, she was one of those weird people that took forever to shower, so grabbing one of the hairs from her pillow was easy. The purple haired girl dropped the hair in, and the liquid changed colour. "I did it!" She squealed, and hugged Garnet tightly.

After waiting a few minutes for the potion to cool, Amethyst poured it into a small cup. "Hey Laz!" She called, and the blue haired girl looked up from her book. The shorter of the two had a sneaking suspicion that Lapis liked Peridot in more than a friendly way, and she was determined for her friend and little cousin to be happy.

"What?"

Amethyst held out the cup. "Here! Try it, I made just for you!"

Lapis sniffed it, and raised an eyebrow. "You really think I'm gonna fall for this again? It's going to taste awful isn't it." She said skeptically, and Amethyst gave her an offended look.

"Oh come on jerk, that was one time! I know your birthday is coming up, so I made you something because Peridot told me you like strawberry milk, I was lucky to find it for you." She snapped, and Amethyst liked to think she was rather convincing considering she had made almost all of that up (With the exception of Lapis' favourite drink of course).

The blue haired girl sighed, muttered an apology, and took the cup. "Well... It smells good." She remarked, and took a gulp of it. Lapis' dark blue eyes went wide and she gagged, clearly she'd swallowed it before the potion's aftertaste came through. "Ugh! You ass! Why did I even trust you?!"Lapis hissed, grabbed her book and stormed off.

Amethyst poured the rest of the potion into the fire-pit. No mermaid was gonna chase after her baby cousin, she wasn't stupid enough to pour THAT down the drain.

Lapis huffed angrily and sat down on a bench, overlooking everyone running around outside. This was a large school, so much bigger than a muggle one. She had only lived in England for a year, but it was so much better than America already, it wasn't as hot!

Apparently she wasn't the only transfer student, Peridot and her older cousin Amethyst had transferred here too. Peridot was a Hufflepuff, Amethyst was a Gryffindor with Garnet (no surprises since she was the only girl brave enough to pull pranks on anyone and everyone) and Lapis herself was a Ravenclaw.

They shared a lot of classes, something about Peridot being 'a special case' and 'learned differently', it didn't matter though. The blonde girl was Lapis' best friend, she didn't know what she'd do without Peridot... She wished Peridot was here, she always made the tall girl feel better about everything!

The blue haired girl felt her cheeks start to warm up at the thought of the smaller girl. Peridot was so cute, with her smile, and fluffy hair, and bubbly personality that outshone the sun. She was pretty too, even if she didn't think it, Lapis thought she was gorgeous, and funny, and just... So _perfect_.

It took her more than a few seconds to realize that she was not only writing the blonde girl's name in her book, but she was doodling tiny hearts in it too.

It felt good.

Peridot was walking down the halls, it was so loud in class today, sure everyone was having fun, but the other girl's constant giggling and the noises of the creatures was an assault on the poor girl's ears. She sighed as she walked down the hall, maybe a trip to the library would cheer her up.

"PERI!" A familiar voice squealed and the young girl was tackled to the floor. "Oh Peri I missed you so much, I've been waiting so long for you to get back from class!" Lapis was hugging her tightly, her face flushed a dark red as the blonde tried to process what was going on.

Lapis Lazuli, the girl she'd had a crush on since she was a little girl, had tackled her to the ground and was now nuzzling into her hair. "L-lapis, what are you doing?"

The blue haired girl simply giggled and nuzzled her cheek. "I came to see you, I wanted us to eat lunch together in the dining hall." She told the blonde, Peridot's eyes widened. Her crush actually wanted to sit and eat lunch with her? Well, sure they had done that since they were little, but this was different!

After a few more seconds of being trapped in Lapis' snuggle-hold, the short girl stood up. They began to walk down to the hall when Peridot felt something soft brush her hand. She realized with a squeak that Lapis was trying to interlock their fingers. The blonde had no clue what had gotten into her, but she gently took the hand that kept brushing against her own. Lapis seemed to sigh with bliss and squeezed her hand.

"Y-you're acting a little odd Lapis, are you okay?" Peridot stuttered a bit, but Lapis nodded and guided her to a spot away from some chattering people.

"Peri, I'm fine. Never felt better actually, it's just… I love being with you." She ran her thumb down the length of Peridot's fingers. "And… And I love you."

Green eyes widened. Peridot whirled around to look at her, this had to be some sort of joke right? This couldn't be real. "You mean like… As my best friend?"

Lapis snorted and laughed. "Of course not! I love you Peri, I really love you." She said happily, and scooted closer to where Peridot sat. "But, now's not the time, you need to eat. You keep forgetting to and it worries me so much. Eat your lunch, and we'll go sit somewhere nice and quiet, and…" The blush on Lapis' face darkened. "Maybe we could cuddle a little?"

Peridot's eyes seemed to fill with stars, Lapis actually liked her! She felt like crying with joy, she hugged Lapis tightly. "I love you too, and I'd love to spend time with you!"

Lapis rejoiced in this, letting out a loud scream of joy that caught her a few dirty looks from students minding their own business, she didn't seem to care though, and peppered the blonde's face in tiny kisses. Peridot's heart felt like it was swelling up, her face and neck burned. "Okay sweetheart, you know I love you too much to let you forget to eat, so come on, have your lunch!" She chirped. Peridot ate quickly, Lapis staring at her the entire time, her smile never fading.

Some students swore she rarely blinked.

They did spend time together, _all_ their time together. Peridot quickly found out that when Lapis said she wanted to be with the blonde forever, she MEANT IT.

The blonde could never get away from her, she'd always be there, watching over her with that sickeningly sweet voice. She still loved all the attention, but sometimes those cuddling sessions made her feel like a rat being squeezed by a python. She loved all the kisses Lapis gave her, but then she'd woken up to the blue haired girl petting her hair and sitting on the corner of her bed, which meant that she'd had to have snuck in last night as the door to the Hufflepuff common room was LOCKED at night now for safety reasons.

One reason probably being an obsessive girlfriend.

Lapis was in the bathroom now, and Peridot scrambled away as fast as her legs would carry her. She was panting, it was only a matter of time before the taller girl found her. She saw her cousin and Garnet walking down the hall together. "Please help me!"

Something was very wrong with Lapis, that much was obvious, she'd never act like this! "What's the matter sis?" Amethyst asked, her eyebrows raised.

"It's... It's Lapis, she loves me too much... She's out of her mind! She won't stop following me, I can't get away from her no matter what I do! I love her too but... This isn't Lapis."

Garnet gave Amethyst a hard glare. "I told you something would go wrong."

Peridot looked at them, confusion filling her eyes as she tried to process what Garnet said. "W... What?"

She'd never seen her older cousin look more guilty. "I... I gave her a love potion. With your hair in it. I made her go crazy over you. But I mean... The kind I used only really works if they actually-"

"Amethyst I'm sorry but I REALLY don't have time!" Peridot squawked. Lapis would be hunting her down by now and she didn't want to be dragged away to be snuggled and fed treats while being coddled and fussed over.

Okay maybe she did want that, but in moderation! Just holding hands was enough for her to be happy, this was an overload!

Garnet knelt down to her height. "Easy now, we have an antidote, just in case this went wrong." The black haired girl spoke softly, she held a small cookie in her hand. "Just give her this and she'll be back to normal, I promise."

The blonde nodded and took the small treat. She smiled until she heard a voice from down the hall. "Peri! Where are you?!" Lapis was calling for her.

Peridot whispered her thanks and ran off in Lapis' direction. She jumped into the blue haired girl's arms, and with a pain in her heart realized this might be the last time Lapis ever held her like this. "Oh sweetheart you had me so worried about you, are you okay?" She asked, and Peridot nodded, her heart breaking.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I was just playing around with you." She told her. Lapis gave her a little kiss on the nose, and her cheek, and her forehead, anywhere but her mouth oddly enough. "Hey um... Lapis? C-can you promise me something?"

She looked concerned. "What's the matter?"

Peridot's eyes couldn't meet her gaze. "It's just... I made you something I want you to try, b-but no matter how bad it is, or how you feel for me afterwards, c-can you keep hugging me...?" She was fighting back tears, if Lapis wasn't aware of the love potion Peridot would have to explain it, and if she was, well, it didn't matter either way, she'd still know about the blonde's love for her.

And Peridot wouldn't be surprised if Lapis never wanted to be near her ever again.

"Peri what's wrong? What's wrong sweetie? Are you okay?" Lapis asked, Peridot's vision blurred. She held out the cookie.

She watched as 2 little drops of water hit the ground the second she felt the treat leave her hands, her shoulders shook and she choked back a sob hearing it be eaten.

Lip quivering and tears making streaks down her pale face, Peridot turned around and was about to run off to the bathroom when a pair of slender arms gently hugged her waist. The tiny girl sobbed and hugged her back. "I'm sorry, I didn't know Amethyst was gonna do that, I didn't tell her to do it! Oh god Lapis I'm so sorry! Please... Please don't hate me!"

"Hate you? Why the hell would I ever hate you?" Lapis' voice no longer carried its sugary tone. "Peridot for gods sake I've had a crush on you since we lived in America."

What.

The blonde looked up at her. "What? But... Why? Y-you were given a-"

"I know. It felt kinda like a fever dream I couldn't wake up from, but I know everything that happened. I'm sorry for doing that to you. If you don't actually want to be with me, that's fine, but I really do like you Peridot."

Peridot's own arms went around the blue haired girl's waist. "You really like me?"

Lapis nodded, her cheeks slightly pink as she spoke. "Well... Yeah! I mean, was isn't there to love? You're kind, and smart, and really pretty. I don't care that you're different, I love you for you."

"I-I um, I l-love you too." Peridot stuttered, this felt real, this didn't feel like a dream at all.

Watching from afar, Amethyst grinned as she watched her cousin have her first real kiss. The potion may have worked too well, but in the end it had done its job, her cousin was happy with the girl who'd stolen her heart.

It had also gotten Amethyst an A+ and a date with her lab partner.


	7. Ghost Hunting 1

"I'M UP!" Peridot screeched as her phone rang loudly, she sat upright in her car. An empty candy bag, chip bag, a few Chinese food cartons, and a hole-riddled blanket flying off of her as she grabbed her cell phone. It was pitch black outside, and her phone said it was around 4:30am... Who the hell was calling at this hour? "This better not be some prank call or a spooked kid." This time of year was a blessing and a curse.

Pro? More paranoid idiots scared of ghosts being more active during Halloween, it paid somewhat nicely. (Nevermind that she was living out of her car)

Con? More paranoid idiots scared of ghosts being more active during Halloween, they called at ungodly hours.

"Hello...?" She picked up and her groggy voice made her want to cringe. That is, if she wasn't immediately startled by the voice on the other end. A woman was sobbing into the phone, and Peridot could make out the distinct sound of a young child crying.

"P-please, I'm sorry it's so early, but please we need your help!" The woman on the phone cried, her voice shaking as the child wailed loudly. Peridot's heart broke for the both of them, this was why she did this, to help people. This woman was too scared to be faking anything. "It won't leave us alone, please it... It was after my baby!"

Despite the fact that Peridot knew the woman couldn't see her over the phone, she nodded and took out her sticky notes. The woman started talking again too. "M-my name is Lapis Lazuli." She spoke quietly, the child's cries were dying down a bit into whimpers, Lapis gave Peridot her address, and hung up.

Peridot wrote it down quickly, headed into a gas station to change her clothes, and drove down to meet with Lapis Lazuli.

It was 6:00am by the time Peridot got there, Lapis lived in the outskirts of town in a small house, hidden by large, full, pine trees. The house had a small pond and an unfinished gravel driveway. The blonde saw someone peeking out from behind a curtain, a scared looking woman holding a toddler close to her chest.

Peridot walked up the path and, as she expected, Lapis opened the door before she could even knock on it, the little girl held in one arm on Lapis' hip. "Oh thank you, thank you so much!" She very suddenly hugged the shorter girl with her other arm, the child holding onto her mother tightly but waving at Peridot.

"Hi."

The blonde looked at her, the child looked very much like Lapis, same fluffy hair, same tan skin, though the toddler's eyes were a brilliant dark green and her hair was black against Lapis' electric blue, obviously she hadn't inherited that and... God Peridot was tired. She waved to the little girl anyway. "Hello."

Lapis gave a gentle smile. "This is Malachite, she's my daughter, 3 years old." She told the blonde and kissed the top of Malachite's head, the toddler giggled and snuggled closer. "She's a sweetheart."

Peridot nodded. "I can see that, now... Can I know what happened?" She watched as Lapis' smile faded away, a haunted (please forgive the pun) look in her eyes as she walked further inside the house.

"It started when my fiance passed away, before Malachite was born. It was small at first, little things like odd scents or a room being chilly. But now doors open and slam closed randomly, we hear a woman crying and... Sometimes out of nowhere I start crying, not by my own accord though, tears just fall and don't stop. Mala and I have always been good sleepers, but lately we can't sleep at all, nightmares keep coming, I can't remember my own and Malachite keeps yelling 'Ghost Lady'." She explained, sitting on the couch with her child in her lap, Peridot sitting next to her after she patted the spot beside her.

The pretty woman kept talking after watching the short blonde sit down. "Tonight, right before I called you, I woke up to Malachite screaming. I thought she was having a bad dream when I walked into her room and..." Her breathing picked up, "I-it was there, standing over her crib."

"Do you… Maybe think it's your fiance?" Peridot asked quietly, she didn't know if that was a sore subject for the taller woman. She shook her head though, almost immediately.

"No, it can't be. It looked nothing like her, it was taller, less muscular. And Jasper would have no reason to come back." Lapis spoke softly, Malachite had fallen asleep in her arms.

Peridot tilted her head. "How do you know that?"

"Because she never had anything to hold onto. No unfinished business. She wanted to quit her job because she didn't want it anymore, which I guess her death fixed. I mean hell the only reason she proposed to me is because she ended up getting me pregnant. She picked Malachite's name, and she knew from the ultrasound that our baby's a girl, so really... Not much. I don't even think she was very interested in Mala either, though she was always awkward with kids." Lapis chuckled a bit after that. "You know what? It's getting late, and if the ghost wanted to come back she would've by now. I'm gonna put Malachite in bed, you can sleep on the couch of you want, I'd feel awful to make you sleep in your car."

Peridot smiled at her. "Thanks, that's really sweet of you. I promise Lapis, this ghost will be gone before you know it."

Lapis had nodded and headed down the hall. She'd gestured to the bathroom door, Malachite's room and her own room. Peridot layed down on the couch, she was way too tired, and if she was honest, hungry. But she would help this woman, she could tell this was something terrifying for her. Lapis had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was a mess, this ghost must have been awful to her. Peridot couldn't help but wonder what it wanted, or why it seemed fixated on Malachite. She yawned.

...

It could wait until morning.

Peridot awoke to the smell of bacon frying, her large green eyes fluttered open and she wiped the drool from her cheek as she sat up, her spine cracking forcing a shiver through her small body. For a few seconds she wondered where she was, only to remember that Lapis Lazuli had let her stay the night.

"Eggs! Mummy I want eggs!" She heard Malachite squeak from her spot at a table, her little hands waving in the air as Lapis practically danced in the kitchen moving from spot to spot. Cutting up food, stirring something on the stove, taking things from the fridge and putting them back, never once did she falter or slip. She was doing something so simple, so... Gracefully. "Pewidot's up!"

At that the blonde snorted, the toddler's little lisp was too cute for her to handle, Lapis turned to her, waving for a second with an amused little grin before going back to the stove. "Good morning bedhead." She snickered as Peridot looked in the mirror. Her hair was an absolute mess, sticking out oddly and giving physics the finger through its triangle shape.

She decided to joke around with the pretty woman though. "Well, Mala's hair is pretty fluffy." She chirped, and Lapis started to laugh.

"Yeah, she gets that from her other mom." The blue haired woman said as she took milk from the fridge and poured it into a sippy cup with little ducks on it. "Speaking of my baby, can you give her this please?"

Peridot nodded and took the drink, handing it to the very happy 3 year old, who waved her chubby little arms at the blonde, thanking her in her own way. She pointed over to a single picture that sat on the TV stand. "Mummy." Malachite told her.

When Peridot walked over to it her eyes narrowed to study the details better, her glasses still on the coffee table. It was definitely Lapis, but a younger one, her hair still brown, standing in front of a much taller and more muscular woman. There were odd pale marks on the bigger woman's dark skin, and Peridot couldn't remember what that condition was called for the life of her. Either way, the photo showed them both smiling, the tall woman reaching in front of Lapis to put a hand on her swollen stomach.

 _'This must have been a little while before Jasper died, she died during Lapis' pregnancy, I hope she knows she's got a cute kid.'_ Peridot thought to herself.

Looking around she noticed something odd, there was nothing in the house to keep Malachite out of trouble. No baby gates, nothing over electrical sockets, nothing had been baby-proofed. Now, Peridot wouldn't consider herself to be any kind of Sherlock, but she could put some things together.

Jasper had been the one making more money, and judging by the picture Lapis had to be about college aged. The blonde had the feeling that the young mother had dropped out to take care of her new baby, only for her fiance to die, and leave her with little money to buy those things, as they were pretty expensive.

"H-hey uh-" Peridot was cut off when the blue haired girl put three plates on the table. French toast, fruit, eggs and bacon, enough for all three of them. Her eyes widened. "You made food for me?"

Lapis blushed. "Well, yeah, it's a nice thing to do for guests, also you're getting rid of a ghost... So I thought you deserved some food. I saw your car, you shouldn't have to live like that you know." The taller woman said to her, an air of concern in her voice. When Peridot simply shrugged she continued. "You can stay with us if you want."

Her eyes shot open. "Are you sure? I mean you barely know me-"

"I trust you."

Peridot wanted to laugh. Why the hell was this girl so kind to her? Making her breakfast and offering a place to stay! "But, why?"

The blue haired woman gave a wry grin. "Call it a mother's instinct, I did my research on you, and everyone says you're kind. And besides, it'll be nice to finally have someone to talk to about adult stuff." Said Lapis. "Malachite, eat your breakfast-" She cut herself off with an adorable snort followed by giggling as the young child tried to offer her strawberries to Peridot.

"Want some Pewidot?" Malachite asked, but the blonde shook her head. "Mine!" She squeaked and ate a few of the tiny fruits.

Peridot looked over at Lapis, who was eating peacefully as she watched out the window. "So, do you know anything about the people who were here before you?" She asked, regretful to be breaking the happy atmosphere.

It took a few minutes for the bluenette to think about it, her mind still a little tired despite looking fully for the day. "Yeah, it was a couple. They adopted a baby, but... C-crib death, the child was only 3 years old, one of the parents had been killed in the war, a-and the other one died that night from a broken heart."

Peridot nodded, thinking hard about what the lovely woman was saying. "So you said this ghost cries?"

Blue eyes widened in horror. "You... You think it's the other parent?" Lapis seemed terrified. "M-Malachite's 3... You know a lot about ghosts, is it going to hurt her?"

Peridot shook her head. "No, but chances are it hasn't let go of the past, or it's trying to stop history from repeating itself."

Soon night came, Peridot had spent most of the day using the last of her money shopping with Lapis and Malachite for things to baby-proof the poor woman's house with. She found Lapis' company to be so... Nice. She was funny, kind, smart and a good listener. She had been so understanding of the true reason Peridot lived in her car. It wasn't to travel around easier, but to escape her brutal mother, a woman named Emerald, who did nothing but boss her around since Peridot could walk, she wasn't a warm mother.

If the blonde was honest though, she thought Lapis was the warmest of all. She was so patient towards Malachite, loved to play fun little games with her, and Peridot did too. The blonde genuinely liked Malachite, she was an adorable little girl, and was very affectionate once she got over her shyness. Peridot really did want to live with them, though she feared falling in love with Lapis, she didn't know how the bluenette would feel about the slight affection she had for her already.

She felt like she already knew the bluenette so well, she knew about her job as a nurse, her family life, Lapis was chatty and told her everything she could.

Although, that might have just been protective instinct, and not just loving the way Lapis' bright blue eyes seemed to practically sparkle when she laughed, or the cute and rather funny way her sharp little nose would crinkle whenever she snorted. She sighed as she sat in the passenger seat of Lapis' car. She was too gay for her own good.

The sun had set quickly, she was glad that despite how chilly it had been this month that Lapis' heating unit worked. Peridot had been so scared of how she would survive what was supposed to be a brutal winter living out of her car.

It was after dinner now, and the once cheerful Malachite had gone quiet. The toddler crawled up into Peridot's arms and hugged her tightly. "Scawy..." She whimpered and the pale girl had to take a deep breath and not squeeze the life out of this adorable fuzzball of a child because god dammit she made the cutest faces.

"I know, but you don't have to be scared, it'll be okay Malachite. I promise." Said Peridot, and she patted the tiny child's back. "Hey, do you want me to get you some donuts tomorrow? Do you know what they are?"

The toddler's bright green eyes lit up. "YEAH!" She shrieked. Lapis walked into the room, if she had a tail it would be between her legs. The taller woman had gotten out of the shower, and was as nervous as could be. She sat beside Peridot and leaned closer to her, making the blonde blush as she wasn't used to a pretty girl being close to her.

Down the hall, a door slammed shut, and a chill ran down Peridot's spine. The room became freezing, she was able to see her own breath, Lapis held onto her arm. Tears flowed down her cheeks, and a soft crying sound came from Malachite's bedroom. Peridot's heart filled with rage. Enough was enough, it was time for this spirit to move on and leave these poor people alone.

The blonde had put a ring of salt around the couch to protect Lapis and Malachite, as long as they stayed there they would be okay. Peridot stood up and went into the toddler's room. "Your business in this world is over now, what happened to your child was tragic, but it's time to move on." She spoke with confidence as she stepped in, her eyes widened.

There is was, standing over the large crib, was a translucent blueish woman, sobbing and looking into the crib. The house had been cleansed, the scent of herbs still drifting in the air. "I'm sorry Pink..." The phantom whispered, "I couldn't save you... Your heart wasn't strong enough..."

Peridot had done her research based on what Lapis had said. This woman had to have been Blue Diamond, the homeowner from long before. She hadn't adopted a child, it had been her own. The poor thing's heart was defective, and she had died early on in her sleep. Blue had indeed died from broken heart though.

"Lapis Lazuli has no intentions of letting harm come to her child, you do not have to protect Malachite. Lapis is a good mother, and so were you. Pink is waiting on the other side, it's time for you to let go and join her. Goodbye Blue Diamond."

The spirit turned to her, and pointed. Peridot's eyes widened further upon seeing Lapis at her side, though the blue haired woman no longer looked afraid. "You've felt so much pain, but I wish you so much good when you move on and join your family." She said with a voice that was trying not to shake.

Blue Diamond stared at them for a little while longer, and Peridot fought the urge to let her teeth chatter. "At long last, a mother's love proves true." A soft voice rung in Peridot's ears, and Blue's eyes closed as she faded away.

At once, it felt like she could breath again. The room became warm, and it felt as though the house itself was bigger. Lapis sighed with relief. "It feels like something just got off my back." She exclaimed, "It feels like the house is mine again. Peridot... Thank you so much!"

The blonde chuckled. "It was nothing, I just- mmph!" She squeaked upon feeling the older woman's lips on hers, the blonde's face going cherry red as Lapis kissed her.

"Don't think I don't know Peri, I think I like you too. How about we give this a shot okay? It'll be thanks for helping me, we can go out to dinner, just the two of us." Lapis said with a grin, hugging her and thanking her over and over again. Peridot nodded, speechless. She'd just vanquished a ghost and landed a date with a beautiful woman who seemed to like her very much, and was eager to be with her.

Best Halloween ever.

It had been hours since Blue Diamond had faded away. Peridot was standing on the porch now, happy as could be as she pressed her palm to her cheek where Lapis had kissed her. The blonde couldn't stop grinning as she watched the sunrise. Lapis headed inside to get them some iced tea, and Peridot had been about to follow her to get away from the chill, when she caught a glimpse of three transparent shapes.

Two tall, holding one very small one between them. Two mothers and their toddler, and just before they faded from view, Peridot could have sworn she heard a very faint "Thank you."

She followed her new girlfriend inside, and closed the door. For the first time, Peridot felt like she truly had a home.

 _ **AN: Review are greatly appreciated!**_


	8. Haunting 2

Okay, breathe, calm down. Think for a second, what did she want? Oh his head was swimming, Henry didn't know what the hell his old friend had even been doing with this place, much less why he had seen one of the characters he'd once drawn come to life and try to kill him.

She'd been vicious, only seconds after her... 'Birth' he had seen those soulless (or maybe one soul too many) black eyes staring at him, before her claw-like nails had swiped at him. Henry had made the worst mistake of his life today.

He'd turned the Ink Machine on, and brought Lapis Lazuli to life.

Henry remembered the days when she'd been nothing more than a cute little cartoon character he would draw with a crooked little smile at his desk, she was the studios little darling devil, the favourite.

His memories flooded in... Episodes with her trying time and time again to win the heart of the cute little angel, Peridot. Every time Peridot would show up in an episode Lapis would do anything to gain her affections, and beat up any poor fellow who tried to please her. Lapis had a tendency to throw tantrums and use her magical water powers to keep competition away.

Peridot was an... Interesting character. She was sweet, a little naive, and playful. A tiny angel with appetite of a bear in autumn. Lapis always got her snacks to win her heart.

Now Lapis was after him, she had snarled with rage and ink began to bleed through the cracks in the walls, coming up from the floor. She'd made a hand with it and tried to grab at him. Her pale white skin, pitch black hair, deranged angry smile and a dress that started off pale grey, faded to black and dripped ink all over the floor. Lapis was a demon, and she was out for Henry's blood.

It was quiet now, the only sound her could hear besides his pounding heart was the pipes pumping ink around the old studio and the projectors he had foolishly turned on. The scared man couldn't help but feel some nostalgia for his old work place, even if it was falling apart nowadays.

He stepped out from the locker he'd hid in, shaking and out of breath. Henry needed to find a way out of here, out of this hellish place and back home, to never come back. He quickly and quietly made his way down the hall, his heart lurching whenever he stepped on a creaky board. Lapis could be anywhere in this place, ready to strike at any moment. The ink puddles on the floor itself could be used as a weapon against him.

The terrified man stepped quietly into a small room, there was a desk with some old sketches littered on it, a bottle of ink, and... An odd device. Henry stared at the device for a minute... It was a rather large tape recorder, a tape still inside too.

It seemed that Lapis was gone for now... He even shut the door behind him, locked it up tightly too. He hit the play button.

"You were born of darkness, my saviour. Lapis, I hear your sweet whistling through these old halls, your laughter, I pray you hear my praises and bless me. Oh yes, I still sing your praises, yes, even after all this time... I will give HER to you, so that you, my dark saviour, will have your light. I left HER in an old recording booth, the one for the woman who... Brought her to life... I'm sorry... I didn't have the heart to take her out, not to betray you, but to honour the woman I had to use to make HER body. That booth was hers, you don't mind though, do you? I've shared not only my sacrifices, but my own love as well, and all to be in your sweet, loving, final embrace... Can I get an amen?"

A chill ran down his spine. He knew this voice, it sounded a bit different, but it was probably just from the age of this recording, it was dated about 10 months ago, and these machines did anything but age gracefully... But the voice was unmistakable, it was his old co-worker, Sammy Lawrence.

Who was HER? And who was the woman... No. No it couldn't be, he'd loved her, why would he... Henry shook his head, and kept moving. He didn't want to think about any of those implications if he could help it.

Slowly, looking around for anything to use as a weapon, Henry walked up the stairs. Cutouts of the characters filled the halls, Lapis with her mischievous little grin, and Peridot looking as innocent as could be, the hearts on her chest and knees part of the design Henry had given her, she was made to be cute.

There a few black droplets on the floor ahead of him. Was something leaking? Maybe wood had worn thin and a pipe was leaking, wouldn't be the first time he'd heard of that happening to people. Henry made his way over (being careful not to trip, this room was cluttered with old tools and it was a bit dark) and looked up.

It wasn't a pipe, but a vent. Why was there ink leaking out of a vent? The metal cover rattled and before he could back away he saw Lapis peeking in through the vent cover, slowly leaning down to grab him. Henry ducked out of the way and backed up, tripping over a box too. Ink dripped from the ceiling, the lights went out as well. She slammed her hand down on the vent cover, destroying it before she slipped out and landed gracefully on the floor towering over him, Henry grabbed the nearest thing he could reach and threw it at her.

Turns out, what he had grabbed was a small, open bottle of bleach. It hit Lapis' arm and she recoiled with a pained scream, Henry got up and ran back down another hall, into an old elevator. He could hear Lapis snarling and more ink started to drip from the ceiling, it happened whenever she got close. He slammed his fist onto the button to open the door, and immediately closed it back up.

Henry stood in the closed elevator, shaking as it slowly went down on its own leaving the demon on the upper floor. Faint singing echoed through the halls as the elevator descended lower and lower. Fear gripped his heart, he knew that voice too well.

He was being sent down to Peridot the Angel.

The elevator stopped, and a voice crackled through the PA system. "Hello in there!" It giggled manically, sending shivers down his spine. "It's been so long since anyone's come to see me! It'll be nice to not be so alone. The monsters here are hideous, but at the same time, it was their very blood that made me so perfect." Her voice changed, happy and bubbly to gleefully sadistic.

The elevator shuddered to a halt. Peridot kept talking. "Now, be a good boy and come to me. If you want to live and ascend to the heavens... You'll be doing my bidding for just a little while." She started to laugh. "Now, step out of your cage, and follow the screams."

Henry did as he was told, despite her laughter Peridot didn't sound happy at all. Of course she wouldn't, she'd been locked in a tiny room for god knew how long, maybe she was just bitter?

No, definitely not just bitter. Henry had found her, locked up in that old recording booth, wires from the walls had been attached to a table, Peridot putting the two of them together to torture the poor creature that was strapped down to it. Its body looked somewhat like an ostrich, and there had been an ostrich character, but it was so deformed, its neck was gone, only leaving a thick little body on two scrawny legs, two eyes had become several, three tongues flailed about wildly in a mouth full of fangs, and it had horrid sharp claws on its inky black feet, the rest of it being pure white.

The Angel didn't even turn to look at him. "Ah, so you've finally arrived. Now it comes to my question... Should I kill you? String you up and gut you like the others? The choices of the beautiful are so difficult, aren't they?" She asked rhetorically before pointing at the creature she was torturing.

"Take this little freak for instance. It slipped through the cracks, CRAWLED up to me, getting its DISGUSTING ink all over the place!" Her... 'Breathing' picked up, her lips curled back into a snarl. "It could have TOUCHED ME!" Peridot screamed. "IT COULD HAVE PULLED ME _back_!"

Her voice had broken, she doubled over, clutching her head in one hand with another over the heart on her clothes over her chest. Henry could still clearly see her though, she was his height after all. "Do you know what it's like...? Living in the shadows of nothing...?" She asked him(?), sounding as if she were on the verge of tears. "It's endless pain, a dark shadow over an already HELLISH EXISTENCE!" She was screaming again.

Henry was too frightened to speak, and let her keep talking, he was starting to think that despite her stable physical form, her mental one wasn't holding up from all the isolation. "The first time it gave birth to me, I was nothing but an oozing, dripping blob." She whispered. "The second time...?"

Peridot turned to him now, and he wished his heart had stopped like it wanted to upon seeing her face. The half she showed looked normal, but the other half looked as if it had melted away. Her torn away lips exposed sharp teeth where he could see her jaw moving, her left eye was missing, all that was left was an empty socket with black stains around it, as if she clawed at it and it bled. Another thing that he only now noticed was that not only was her halo broken, it was growing crookedly out of her skull between her horns. Peridot smiled.

" _It made me an Angel_!"

Henry backed away from her, she pressed her hands against the glass, the only thing keeping them apart. "Do as I say, and I'll let you go." The lights flickered as she slammed her hand down on a button, shutting her and the poor creature away from view, all Henry could hear was its screeches of agony.

He ran out, only to almost smack face-first into a large container, it opened after a second revealing a recently polished axe. "Take it errand boy." Peridot hissed. "You know those pipes that YOU turned on? The ones that caused the Ink Demon to return? Axe them. _Now_." She ordered, and he took the axe. "Oh, and do be careful now, all that noise you'll make will draw Her near, and she only walks where the Ink lies."

Henry carefully tip-toed through the halls, hiding in one of the old lockers every time he heard something that couldn't have been him. The air was hot, reeked of ink, filled with dust and on occasion Peridot's singing of he got close to a speaker.

With a loud 'clang' he swung his axe into a thick black pipe before quickly ducking out of the way before the ink gushed out in a slimy black shower. It rapidly went down the drain. Peridot started to giggle again, "One more, those wretched pipes don't stand a chance against you... Errand boy." She had that oh-so LOVELY habit of talking down at him, thinking herself to be so perfect, high and mighty while Henry was stuck doing the little witch's bidding.

Oh, and that witch started definitely with a B.

"Thanks for all the new Ink by the way, it feels so nice against my skin... I swear, next time you see me I'll be looking like a whole new girl!" Henry really didn't want to know what that meant. In fact he would be more than happy if he never had to see Peridot again, just the thought of seeing her face again made him feel sick.

The air became cold. Ink started to bleed through the cracks in the walls the second Henry axed the last pipe. He swore he could hear his own heartbeat pounding as he started to run. "Oops, guess I forgot to tell you, she gets more angry the more noise you make and the more you avoid her. You've really pissed her off." Peridot's voice was smug and in that moment Henry knew she'd set this whole thing up for the Ink Demon to find him. "Better run Henry!"

He didn't need to be told twice, there was a closed off area near Peridot, he prayed Lapis wouldn't be able to get to him there. Henry sprinted down the hall, the ink following him as Lapis held pursuit, "I'LL KILL YOU, GIVE HER BACK TO ME!" Lapis roared and pumped her wings to keep herself in the air chasing after him as the halls flooded with ink. "Or better yet, I'll TAKE her from you, once... You're... DEAD!" She slammed into him, knocking them both to the ground.

He tried to push her off, and while he had succeeded she was absorbed on dragging him down with her. Henry had only just barely gotten through the door, but before the man could breathe a sigh of relief, a puddle of ink leaked under it. "No... No... S-she can't..." He wheezed, completely out of breath.

"She can." Peridot replied calmly. She sat in her booth, the creature gone, and like she'd said she looked completely different. Her face was normal again, her halo floating gently above her head. If you didn't know about her insanity you could almost call her cute. Henry knew better. "Did you really think I was going to let you go? You're the key Henry. The key to unlock my door so Lapis and I can be together again. This, Henry, is where you die."

The door burst open, a very angry Lapis stood there, her grin wide as Henry backed up against the glass. "Don't be afraid, Sammy was scared once, but his pain ended quickly. Yours won't." Peridot growled. "You made us, you betrayed us, we were so loved, and you left us to rot."

Lapis advanced on him, swirling ink around him to cover him in the black liquid. "Thank you for leading me here, I've been looking for her for so long, and here she is." The Demon was calm now. Her wings extended once more, and she slammed them onto the glass barrier, shattering it with ease and gently scooping up Peridot. The two held onto each other, though the Angel fell to her knees.

"Lapis, I've missed you so much my love." Peridot... Smiled. She turned to Henry, a peaceful look in her pitch black eyes as Lapis forced Henry down before the Angel.

"I've missed you too Peridot, now go on, have your revenge, my sweet little love. I know how hungry you get, so I brought you something to eat, just like old times." Lapis whispered to her, "My Angel."

Peridot grinned happily, Lapis watched with pride and love in her eyes as the Angel sunk her sharp teeth into Henry's throat.


	9. Haunting 3

_**AN: Please tell me what you think guys!**_

"Where am I..." Peridot whispered softly as she opened her eyes. The last thing she could remember was her and her mother arguing, her mother was driving... Not paying attention, there was a truck, a slight pain in her chest, and then... Nothing.

"Welcome! Hm, looks like you could use some help. Come on." A hand was in front of her eyes, the ground was cold, where the hell was she? Everything looked grey, as if she were in an old movie, or the world was painted with storm clouds.

Peridot looked up, there was a woman standing before her. Taller with a crooked smile, bright blue eyes and hair, which was fluffy and messy. The small woman screamed, and backed away from the girl before her. She was ever so slightly see-through, a ghost... A real ghost!

"Y-you... Y-you're..."

"Dead? Yeah, I've been dead for a long time." The girl said calmly, "This is the Spirit World, where all souls go after they die."

Peridot looked at her... No, this couldn't be, this had to be a dream, her mom had slammed on the brakes and the blonde hit her head, and now this was some kind of strange subconscious talking to her. "I know what you're thinking, and no, this isn't a dream. My name is Lapis by the way, and I have your file right here." Lapis exclaimed before opening up a folded paper she'd been holding in one hand. "Peridot Diamond, age 24, Canadian, studying robotics in college, raised by a single mother, father left before birth. Died in a car accident while arguing with mother, mother survived however Peridot was killed when the impact caused one of her ribs to puncture her heart. Death was instant."

The blonde fell to her knees. This wasn't true, she wasn't dead, she couldn't be... "But... But I don't want to go... I wasn't ready..."

Lapis frowned at that, her voice took on a much softer tone. "I wasn't either." She whispered, and led Peridot down into a bright golden field. "August 9th, 1945... I was 24 too, Japanese. I didn't even know what was going on, I hadn't been listening to anything."

Peridot looked at her, green eyes wide. "W-what killed you?"

The taller spirit looked back at her, before looking down at the ground, Peridot strained to hear the next words. "Radiation poisoning."

Oh.

OH.

Peridot decided it was best not to think about it. "Lapis... I have questions, can we please sit somewhere?" She asked, Lapis had a pleasant smile now as she guided the blonde through the field and up onto some warm rocks. "What do I do now...? I'm dead, right? Well what do dead people do?"

Lapis seemed impressed. "I'm glad you accepted it, most people take a few days." She explained. "Well, one thing they do is go to old relatives who passed away, we can visit the physical world to travel all over, see things you didn't get the chance to see in your life, and you can even travel through the past to see things back then! No future though, only the past and the present."

Peridot's eyes widened. "W-wait, can... Can I see my mom?" She asked. Lapis frowned but nodded.

"You can, but you can't speak to her or anything." The blue haired girl told her. Apparently her hair was blue due to the fact that you could change your hair colour whenever you pleased, and blue reminded her of the sky. Fair enough.

"Please I... I just want to see her, to know if she misses me." Peridot told the older spirit, whose eyes filled with sympathy. "D-does my mom miss me?"

Lapis nodded, blinking rapidly. "Every day Peridot, she hasn't stopped missing you. She hasn't stopped grieving over you, she misses you so much, her heart is broken because of what she did." A single tear slipped down the taller girl's face, "Peridot please don't think she doesn't love you, she's always loved you..."

The area around them shifted, the two were now standing in a graveyard. A tall woman was kneeling near a recent looking grave, flowers in her hands as she sobbed. "Peridot I'm so sorry, this is all my fault, I love you so much sweetie, mummy still loves you so much, I'm sorry..." Peridot's mother cried. "If I could take your place, you'd be standing here today, I'm so, so sorry Peridot, I shouldn't have pushed you so hard, I'm sorry for not paying attention to you as much as I should've, but I never hated you, I'll always love you sweetie... I hope wherever you are is good, you won't have to stress over college anymore, and..." A sob came through as she set the flowers down, "A-and you can play with Pumpkin as much as you want now... No more pain."

Peridot ran over to her mother and knelt beside her. "I'm okay mom, it's gonna be okay, mom I'm right here, mummy I'm okay, please don't cry. I... I love you too." The blonde whispered as Lapis came over and hugged her.

There was a picture beside her mother, it was Peridot as a little girl holding a slightly overweight corgi to her chest, a huge smile on her face, the dog smiling too. Peridot's first and only pet who'd passed away from a problem with his heart. Pumpkin.

She hugged the blue haired girl tightly. Her mom's voice had dropped to a low whisper. "Rest easy sweetheart, I love you so much. I'll never forget how much I love you."

The physical world faded, leaving them back in the Spirit World with Peridot sobbing into Lapis' shoulder. The taller girl rubbed her back. "Peridot I warned you, I told you, oh please don't cry, come on you're gonna set me off too..." She whimpered. "C-come on Peri, there has to be something that can cheer you up, a-at least a little, what about that puppy in the picture?"

Peridot looked up at her and nodded. "I.. I wanna see Pumpkin." She murmured, and buried her face back into her friend's shoulder. "Please? Can I?"

She felt Lapis nod. "Of course you can, are you okay though?" She asked.

The blonde wasn't too sure, but she nodded anyway. There was really nothing she could do about it, she'd been the one to ask to go there. "Yes, I'm getting better, thank you Lapis." She muttered and hugged her a little tighter. "Are we friends?"

"Well yeah, I thought it was obvious enough. I like you, I want to be your friend." Said Lapis. "You're smart, and from what I heard you were pretty funny too."

Peridot blushed at the praise to her intelligence. She knew she was smart, she just liked to hear it. She cracked the faintest of smiles. "Yeah, I guess I was pretty funny, when I wasn't stressing over dumb tests." The blonde sniffled, wiping tears away. Lapis patted her back, and Peridot started to take deep breaths to try and calm herself down.

A sweet scent rose up through the grass, the scent of flowers. "I-is that...?"

"When your mom put the flowers on your grave, I guess their scent came through. Either that or the Spirit World is doing what it does best, comforting others with things they love. Are these your favourite flowers?"

Peridot shrugged. "I just like the smell of them, I don't really have a favourite. What um... What things do you like?"

Lapis' face held a peaceful look to it. "I like stars, the smell of my mom's cooking, and the feeling of wind, or grass beneath your feet." She listed her things off. "I have to say, my country's food is a lot better than yours."

The blonde gave a breathy laugh. "You know what? You're probably right." She said, still not letting go of Lapis. "I love food. I was pretty chubby as a kid. I slimmed down during my teen years, because I played a ton of soccer and swam a lot. It was mostly baby fat anyway, turns out I was a pretty good swimmer."

Lapis' eyes lit up. "I remember swimming with all my siblings and cousins, there was a pond near our house, we would go swim after dinner and it would tire us out. I didn't know it at the time but it was my family's strategy to get us all tired out and ready for bed." She told her, "We never had any pets though. What was Pumpkin like?"

At the memories of her childhood Peridot finally gave a full smile. "He was spoiled, my mom runs a company, so we were rich. She bought him for me for Easter, I was 6 years old, he was 6 months old, he was my best friend." She explained. "He went everywhere with me, he stayed in my room at night he sat with me when we watched TV, he was the best dog ever as far as I'm concerned." She felt her T-shirt change, it thickened out and transformed into a lime green hoodie.

"And yeah, he was a bit overweight, I gave him tons of treats. Could you blame me? It wasn't bad though, he still liked to run around, and play with a ball even if he could never catch it, his legs were too little and my throws sucked. He loved snuggles, hugs, kisses, anything."

Lapis was grinning, "Did he have that little tickle spot on his tummy?"

The blonde snorted and almost doubled over laughing. "Yeah! If you called him over and told him to roll over he'd wiggle around and get himself so excited he'd start panting before you even did anything!" She chirped. "He would kick his little feet and try to lick your fingers."

They fell silent as barking and yipping filled the air. Lapis and Peridot had arrived at the Spirit Realm for Animals, specifically the one for dogs. Dogs of all ages ran around, according to a sign the sweet critters would be at whatever age they were or would be happiest.

There must have been thousands, if not millions of puppies running around. Yapping happily as they played with toys, ate treats, swam and chased each other. More ghosts were there, petting them and tickling them. There may not have been a heaven here, but Peridot thought this was pretty damn close.

"Pumpkin!" She called, "C'mere boy! Come see mummy!" The blonde expected for hundreds of dogs with the same name to sprint at her, but only one came. Apparently only the owner could truly call them.

There he was, a sweet, chubby little puppy with fluffy orange fur and a bright green collar around his neck. Her puppy, waddling up to her and jumping up at her face to lick her cheeks and sniff at her. Tears of joy went down the ghost's face. "Oh Pumpkin I missed you! I promised you I'd see you again, I'm here, mummy's here, I missed you so much Pumpkin." She hugged her dog tightly, and looked at Lapis, who'd knelt beside her.

Pumpkin jumped into Lapis' arms too, licking her hands before going back to Peridot and snuggling into her arms. "So this is him? He's cute!" Lapis told her. Well, she didn't need to, the blonde already knew how adorable her corgi was... No, is.

Peridot hugged Pumpkin and Lapis tightly. "Lapis... Thank you so much. I'm not scared anymore, not at all. You said he can travel with us, right?"

The blue haired girl looked stunned. "You really want to stay with me?" She asked. The smaller girl laughed and nodded vigorously. Lapis hugged her back, Peridot had the feeling that she was going to be feeling much more than friendship for this girl.

After all, both girls had read each others files. Both of them liked women, so that was a good sign.

As the glittering light that covered the Spirit World faded to soft night time, they gazed up at the sky, Pumpkin at their feet, curled up in each others arms.

Peridot wanted to stay that way, Lapis wanted it too.


	10. Autumn 1

"Lapis, Peridot! Come here, I have gifts for you guys!" Lapis looked up from her book upon hearing the voice of her beloved Beach Summer Fun Buddy.

Well, it'd have to be her Fall Buddy for now. It was so beautiful outside, leaves the colour of fire had fallen all around the forest near their home, and the half human had made them all into big piles for he and the Crystal Gems to play in. Yes, it was true, Lapis now called herself a Crystal Gem. It was rather hard not to after she'd been poofed and reformed with not only a golden bow that wrapped around her waist, but a dark blue star on the side of her skirt, according to her magazines asymmetry was stylish.

The two Gems excitedly ran over to the young boy, Peridot on all fours, sniffing the boxes he had in his arms, Lapis was no better though, she was lightly prodding the bow that was attached to the box with her name on it. "What are they?" Peridot asked, Steven started to laugh.

"Easy Peridot, relax!" The half Gem chuckled. He set the boxes down on the ground and moved them close to the two Gems. "Okay guys, Pearl and I made this stuff for you, we figured you guys would like them, they're super soft and fuzzy. Go on, open them!"

Not even a second went by as the Gems greedily tore their presents open. In Lapis' was a dark brown sweater with thin red, orange, and gold stripes. In the center was a bright orange leaf similar to the one used in her Meep-Morp. It was warm and fuzzy, it felt oddly soothing to brush her slender fingers over it.

Peridot's was a warm burgundy with thick orange and yellow stripes that were much lighter than Lapis', in the center was another leaf though in a different shape. A maple leaf? Wither way it looked much too big for her, but the Ocean Gem felt that it would look strangely cute. The blonde Gem had something else in her box though, thick fuzzy gold and orange socks with red on the very end.

Lapis smiled when she saw them, she knew there was a reason Steven hadn't given her any. The blue gem hated the feeling of wearing something on her feet, it made her uncomfortable and more anxious for some reason she couldn't quite explain.

"These are for you guys!" Steven told them, "I want you guys to have some fun, and everyone likes to dress up in fluffy clothes for fall."

The two Gems grinned, and slipped the 'clothes' on. They felt nice, and smelled sweet too, like that cinnamon stuff Pearl liked to put on pies, Lapis snickered at the memory of Peridot sniffing to fine brown powder only to break out into a sneezing fit.

Lapis hugged the half Gem tightly. "I like my sweater, thank you Steven. It doesn't even pull down my bow either!" She exclaimed with joy, because in all honesty the blue Gem very much liked her new outfit, the gold bow compensating for her lack of golden colouration. On Homeworld she had been considered 'flawed but too needed to waste' upon her birth during a slight recession (some big power core had melted and destroyed a bunch of things on one colony and a lot had to be moved to a new one, didn't matter though, her first flight had been fun).

She felt Steven almost tip over when Peridot pounced on him for what was now a group hug. "Wow, thanks!" She cheered, "These are exceptionally well-made, and a very sweet gesture, I'll be sure to think of a gift for the Crystal Gems soon, just give me time. Although, you'll be getting the best one." The blonde said with a smile.

Steven started to laugh. "Okay, well there's no need to thank me guys, it's just something I thought you should have. I want you guys to be happy!"

Peridot and Lapis looked at each other before looking at the young boy. "We already are!"

After Steven had left, the two of them headed out into the forest. Peridot held her hand, the green Gem's sleeves came up to her fingertips with the bottom of the sweater going down to her mid-thighs. The forest was beautiful in fall, the green leaves changed to the colour of fire, some of the drifting lazily about in the breeze and some crunching softly under their feet. Acorns fell from the trees, tiny animals with bushy tails running around to gather them up. Birds sang in the trees and flew around overhead, weak sunlight dappling the earthy leaf-covered ground, the light swirling like water as the leaves rustled from the cool breeze that gently ruffled Lapis' hair.

"Hey Peri, wanna see something cool?" Lapis asked the small Gem, who looked up and nodded with wonder in her large innocent eyes. Sadly, the blue Gem had to let go of her hand, and raise her own. Water from the river floated over to them, and gathered up what must have been thousands of leaves. She flicked her wrist, and it gently smushed the leaves into a humongous pile before setting them down, when the blue Gem flipped her hand over the water quickly vanished back into the river, not a single drop had been left on the leaves, they were all perfectly dry.

"Woah! Lapis that was amazing, what is this?" Peridot ran up to the leaf pile in excitement, poking a few leaves and laughing as she smiled back at the taller Gem.

She smirked though, Peridot knew so little about forests, this was almost too perfect. "It's something to keep uh... The... Phantom Queen away. Yeah."

The blonde tilted her head. "The what?"

Lapis pretended to be shocked. "You mean, you don't KNOW? I've been on Earth for thousands of years though, so I'm not surprised you've never heard the legend."

Now Peridot stomped her little feet like a toddler throwing a fit. "What is it?! Come on Lazuli that's not fair, please tell me!" She whined and tugged at the taller Gem's skirt. Lapis was thankful she had enough self-control not to crack a smile at how cute the technician's face was, pouting and huffing at her.

Lapis took her hand once again, and sat beside the leaf pile. "Alright, alright, calm down Peri. Once, a long time ago, there was a Queen. She was cruel, and ordered everyone around without ever thanking them-"

"Like Yellow Diamond?" The little nerd's eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Pfft, yeah, like Yellow Diamond." Lapis snickered, Peridot could be pretty funny sometimes, even now, her eyes wide with a terrible awe as she tried to imagine this bullshit story. "Anyway, she was so cruel and terrible, that one day her subjects decided that they knew exactly what they wanted her to do."

Peridot was fully enraptured in her story, nodding and fidgeting with her hands on her crossed legs. "W-what did they do?" She asked.

And Lapis definitely had an answer. "Well, in an old forest, just like this one, the brought her out for a walk, telling her that they had found a beautiful treasure that they buried under a pile of leaves, so that no one would be able to steal it." She leaned in a bit closer, trying her hardest to ignore the full lips in front of her own mouth now as she kept talking. "So, when she got close to the leaves, all her subjects rushed forward and pushed her! Under the leaves was no treasure, but a huge hole they had dug! The Queen fell all the way down into it, sitting at the very bottom she screamed for them to pull her up, because she herself wasn't tall enough to climb out."

The short Gem quivered a bit where she sat. "D-did they help her?" She asked, but Lapis shook her head, a Cheshire cat grin on her face.

"No, they left her there. She died in that hole, surrounded by all those leaves, that's why I have this pile. Legend has it her angry spirit is too scared to go near any more leaves." The bluenette 'explained' to Peridot, whose shaking had subsided.

"Oh, okay."

Lapis' smirk grew as she slowly drew water from the river again, this time much more discreet and with the hand Peridot couldn't see. The water silently made its way through the leaf pile. "But you know what else the legend says? It says that sometimes, the Phantom Queen gets brave, that she really wants REVENGE on the subjects, that she'll drag down people who are small like her, right through the leaves, never to be seen again, it all starts when she grabs your leg."

3 guesses on what Lapis did with the water.

The liquid tendril latched onto Peridot's ankle, and the tiny Gem screamed with fear. "LAPIS HELP ME!" Peridot cried and screamed, the blue Gem cackling with laughter as the water let her go and appeared in front of her face to show her it was just a joke. Tears rolled down Peridot's cheeks as she shook and... Lapis realized she'd gone way too far with that.

The bluenette forced the water back down to its source and held the tiny Gem tightly. "Oh Peri I'm sorry, I didn't think you were going to be that scared." She murmured gently as she rocked back and forth to sooth Peridot, who sniffled as she hugged Lapis' neck, shaking like a leaf in a windstorm.

"..." The younger Gem whispered something, but Lapis didn't catch it.

The blue Gem managed to wipe her tears away. "What was that?" She asked.

"Was... W-was that story... T-true?" Asked Peridot, who now just sat in her lap having her back rubbed. Lapis shook her head. "When the water grabbed me I... I thought I was never going to see you again, I'd be trapped forever, a-and I would never be able to see you ever again!" She cried. Lapis pulled her closer and patted her back.

"Shh, shh it's okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that Peri. And believe me, if anything EVER tried to hurt you, I'd destroy it. Nobody hurts my Peridot-" Her breath hitched. Did she really just say that? For months she'd been thinking such sweet thoughts about the short Gem, imagining herself and the blonde in all those situations she'd read online for Percy and Pierre, all the things that brought a smile to her face.

"Yours?" Peridot had the slightest grin. "Is this your... Your way of courtship Lazuli? It's odd but... I like this part."

The blue Gem smiled back at her. "Then... Then from now on I'll just hold you and say nice things. No more scary stories. I promise. No monster is going to hurt you Peri."

Peridot now had a warm look in her eyes, she leaned up and pressed her soft lips to Lapis' cheek. A brilliant glow filled the forest as two became one quicker than eyes could blink.

Speaking of eyes, Turquoise opened hers for the very first time.

"No one is going to hurt us."


	11. Free Day 2

"God I hope this works." Lapis muttered to herself as she stirred the orange contents in the large mixing bowl she held onto for dear life. The blue haired woman wasn't much for cooking (that was her wife's forte, Peridot was the best cook she'd ever met) but, she had deiced that for her beloved's birthday she would try to make a recipe her mother had given her.

Pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream, Peridot would love it.

That is, if she didn't burn it, or make the filling wrong… Oh she was nervous. Her phone sat on their microwave, playing a song they loved as she set the bowl down and looked over at the time. It was only 5:00, Peridot wouldn't be home for a while, she grinned. Lapis had no idea how she'd managed to keep this little surprise a secret, but here she was, slaving away in their kitchen with her music on full blast making pie for the first time in her life.

It was funny, the things people did for those they love.

Hours went by, the whole house was warm with a sweet scent, pumpkins, spices, dough and fresh whipped cream. Lapis felt giddy, her wife would be coming home any minute now, the blue haired woman had the day off, but the blonde had to work, and on her birthday too. Oh well, at least the presents Lapis was giving her would be nice. She hoped.

She jumped a bit upon hearing the door open, a smile dawned on her face as Peridot came into their little house. Lapis ran over to her and almost tackled her. "Happy birthday sweetheart!" She squealed as she hugged the shorter woman, Peridot started to giggle and hold her tightly, thanking her through her laughter.

"Oh I missed you baby, what smells so good?" Peridot asked with a few kisses on her neck and cheeks. "Besides you with your shampoo."

Lapis felt herself blush as Peridot took off her jacket, leaving herself in her white blouse and pine green skirt. "Well…" Lapis started, "I know how much you love your sweets… So I may or may not have gotten my mom's pumpkin pie with whipped cream recipe so you could have some."

Peridot's bright green eyes widened, a huge smile on her face as she pulled the blue haired woman back in to kiss her. Lapis melted into it, her hands in Peridot's hair as the younger woman put one hand on Lapis' hip and the other at her back, keeping her close. When they broke off for air, Peridot gave her a precious little smile. "I love you."

"I love you too, now close your eyes." Lapis told her, and the blonde did so. "And no peeking!" She added as she turned around. The bluenette grabbed a few boxes, the presents for her beloved. "Go sit on the couch."

She could hear Peridot's giggling, "How am I supposed to get to the couch with my eyes closed?!" The blonde had a big smile as she laughed. "Is my surprise going to be my pretty wife serving it to me wearing nothing but her apron? Because that would be the best birthday present ever."

"Maybe later tonight if you behave, but for now, just walk straight to the couch, it's just a straight line Peri." Lapis said teasingly as she gently nudged Peridot forward, getting the small woman to really move it after a light smack on her ass. "Eep! Okay, I'm sitting." Peridot stammered from her spot on the couch.

Lapis had a sly smirk as she carefully moved the pie onto a large glass plate. She didn't put a candle in for fear of the wax dripping onto the whipped cream, which was in a nice even layer on top of the pie. "Happy birthday Peri." She said with a smile and sat down beside her wife, setting the pie down on their small coffee table. "Open your eyes."

Bright green eyes opened, and immediately looked as if they had been filled with stars. "You... You really did this for me?" She asked, for Lapis had added a special surprise. She'd added green food colouring to the whipped cream, making a nice pale lime shade, Peridot's favourite colour.

"Of course I did. I love you." Lapis replied, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Peridot blushed a dark red before pouncing on the blue haired woman, peppering her face with kisses.

"I love you too! Thank you so much baby, I mean it, I love you so much."

Now it was Lapis' turn to blush, the tan woman walked over to their dining table and grabbed a few bags and a single box. Her wife looked a little confused, but she smiled, her pale cheeks still the colour of cherries. "Okay, I got you some presents."

With a happy shriek Peridot tore into the first bag. Her first presents? Her favourite shampoo, a warm blanket, new books from one of her favourite series, and a new bookmark.

The second bag held more sparkling blue and green tissue paper, with Peridot loved to squish down into tiny balls to play with, but the presents inside made her wife even more happy.

There must have been at least 5 chocolate bars, star charts for the younger woman to study, a DVD of Camp Pining Hearts season 1 with bloopers that the blonde had been dying to see, and...

"Tickets to see 'The Crystal Gems' live?! How did you get these?! They've been sold out for a month, have you been holding onto these the whole time?" She asked, and Lapis nodded.

The two had met at their very first show at a local cafe. Lapis had known their guitarist and lead singer for years (although that short drummer was newer she was still just as friendly) and had begged for tickets, so she could give them to her wife. They'd happily agreed to it, they were pretty nice people even through their fame, they had stayed humble.

Peridot had happy tears in her eyes as she hugged Lapis so tightly that taller woman squeaked. "Easy Peri, I know."

"God I love you so much Lapis... You have no idea, I-I... This is t-the best birthday ever!" She sobbed with joy.

Lapis held her close as she pulled up the last present. A long, narrow box. "I hope to say I saved the best for last." She told her. "So uh... You know how I was taking visits to the doctor, and between all those visits I had a little day out for 'art therapy' at the gallery downtown? Well um, I did go to the doctor, but no... It isn't anything BAD. I was just uh... Checking on stuff, but I didn't go to the gallery."

"I had the slight feeling, you always bring home fudge." Peridot said lightly, a smile still on her face, though it was curious. "Is everything okay? Are you okay? What were you checking on?"

Lapis took a shaky breath. "Just y'know, my insides. Making sure everything works because... I went to a special clinic, and they um... The doctors there did a special thing and... Open the box Peri."

With shaking hands, Peridot grabbed the lid and gently slipped it up and off the box. She heard her wife's breath hitch before the blonde covered her mouth with her hand, a new wave of tears rolling down her cheeks as Lapis could see the pure happiness in her eyes.

Inside the box was a single pregnancy test.

Positive.


	12. Autumn 3

Rain poured down all throughout the countryside, black clouds covering the sky as thunder faintly rumbled through the rolling hills. Peridot whimpered as she watched through the doorway to the truck-porch. She sealed off the entrance-way, all of their things such as the TV, pillows, anything really, had been safely put away so they wouldn't get ruined by the oncoming storm.

The tiny Gem had never really gotten over her fear of storms, she tried her hardest not to let any fear show, but she still quivered where she stood. Lapis was downstairs sealing off the front door. They would be safe in the Barn, safe warm and dry, and the thunder couldn't hurt them. That's what Peridot tried to tell herself, but it wasn't quite working. They had a battery-powered space heater, which would keep the two of them warm through the icy cold rain.

She scrambled downstairs and under a heavy blanket the second it started to rain. The blonde only poked her head out when she heard footsteps coming closer to her. "Peridot? Are you okay?" Lapis asked. She shook her head and the blue Gem sat down. "Do... You want to talk about it?"

"Lapis, I hate storms, they just feel so... Big. And I'm so small, I never had this problem when I had my limb enhancers, back then almost nothing scared me. Except that whip, that hurt a lot. And maybe Garnet, but she's scary to everyone sometimes!" Peridot rambled. The blue Gem patted her shoulder.

"Hey, I get it. Everyone's afraid of something, nothing to be ashamed of." Lapis told her, and crawled under the blanket to lay beside her. Thunder rumbled again and Peridot shivered, curling up closer to the bluenette.

"Peridot's aren't supposed to be scared though, we're supposed to be tough, unstoppable. Not... Not cowards."

She swore she could HEAR the smirk in Lapis' voice. "Well, you're not supposed to be traitors to Homeworld either, but according to Steven, Yellow Diamond's face said otherwise. I still can't believe you were brave enough to call her a Clod, right to her face too!" Lapis said, hugging her a little with a slight pat on one of Peridot's thick hips. The blonde had a slight smile at the memory, she was right. The look on the egotistical Clod's face was somewhat funny!

She stiffened a little upon feeling Lapis' slender finger trail up her sides, a tingly feeling spread through her and made her squirm, covering her sides with her hands. "No, Lapis no tickles!" She warned, Lapis had a smug little grin as she wiggled her fingers. "I swear Lapis I'll- AAAAAHHHH NOOO NO!" Peridot screamed and howled with laughter as the ex-terraformer dug those fingers into her sides and kept wiggling them, tears of mirth forming in the short Gem's eyes as she wriggled around trying to get away from her naughty Barnmate.

Soon Peridot was out of breath, she wheezed and panted, still giggling even though Lapis had stopped, her sides still feeling tickled. "You're lucky I love you." The blonde pouted, before a flash of lighting seen through the aquarium made her jump and scream. She dove under her blanket and whimpered, letting out a meek sobbing sound when thunder cracked above them, rain pouring down.

She heard Lapis sigh and a wave of shame washed over her. She probably seemed so pathetic, she had braved so much and yet here she was, cowering in terror over one of earth's most natural things. Lapis was brave, she wasn't scared at all of the storm, she liked rain...

The younger of the two squeaked when she felt two arms under her, one across her back and the other under her knees. Peridot felt herself being lifted off the wooden floor, blanket and all, up into Lapis' arms. "I'm really trying Peri, if you just wanna hold onto me would... Would that help you feel better?" She asked, the second the question left her lips however Peridot wrapped her arms and legs tightly around the taller Gem and buried her face in her shoulder.

Peridot shivered and held on tighter when another rumble of thunder cracked overhead, making sure to keep her eyes squeezed shut as Lapis held her close. After a few minutes of sitting like that the blue haired Gem shifted positions, so that she was now sitting cross-legged, Peridot's arms and legs wrapped around her neck and waist like a curvy extraterrestrial python lady.

Bright eyes opened up a bit upon feeling Lapis go into a swaying motion, along with a slender hand on her back rubbing gently. The blue Gem was rocking back and forth, rubbing Peridot's back and petting her hair gently to soothe her. "Shh, it's okay Peri. You're safe with me. I promise I won't let it hurt you. You're a brave Gem Peridot, braver than so many Gems on Homeworld."

Shaking, the nerdy Gem looked up at her. "How? I know I'm a Crystal Gem now, but Lapis... Look at me-"

"I am." Lapis cut her off and pressed her forehead against the little gem on Peridot's own forehead. A warm, safe feeling swept through her, and she could feel her muscles relaxing. "And I see a tough, strong Gem who has a pretty logical fear. It doesn't matter how many times these storms happen, loud bangs and bright sudden flashes? I don't think many people like them at all. A lot of humans are scared of them, it's natural Peridot." Her bright blue eyes stared into teal ones, their noses almost touching. "And I see a Gem I love."

Green cheeks turned teal as well once the technician heard that. "I-I love you too." Peridot murmured, the blue Gem keeping up her record of never failing to make the blonde blush with even the littlest things.

Just like the tiny kiss left on her lips.


	13. Decorations 1

Lapis tilted her head. "Little more to the left I think, what about you?"

Peridot gave her a thumbs up. "Yeah, just a little though, don't worry I'm holding the nail in place, along with the hammer." The blonde told her, a single hand outstretched to keep better control of the tools. She'd accidentally bent many of their nails, now she didn't mean to and felt very sorry, but it wasn't going to change the fact that Lapis didn't 100% trust in her hammering abilities. "Watch, Lazuli, as I amaze you with how talented I am!"

The blue haired Gem just grinned, Peridot was so excited for this holiday, she did everything she could to impress the Ocean Gem. She had dressed herself up as an adorable little cat, with her beloved dressing up as a vampire. The blonde's cheek were painted with whiskers and she had managed to create a tail and ears for herself. Lapis was wearing a cape, fangs and had painted her nails black. Something special she had done though, was phase her appearance modifiers to be black, the mix of black and electric blue was exciting.

The blonde quickly hung up the banner on the front of the Barn, it had been decorated with leaves, bats, spiderwebs (not real ones! Spiders were creepy!) and paintings of ghosts that glowed in the dark. Their pond had large bags of multicoloured powder nearby, they still had to decide which one they wanted to use to change the colour and taste of the pure, clean water inside. Lapis hoped it would taste good.

There was a special reason for that hope too, for this year Lapis and Peridot were in charge of hosting this year's Halloween party. Last year it had been at Steven's house, where they had fused for the first time, it had also been their very first Halloween. This year was going to be special, they were in charge of decorating the Barn all by themselves!

A happy smile bloomed on Lapis' face as she flew over to the supplies. The blue Gem had just been untangling another string of lights when something hit her square on the back, just below her gem. She turned around to see what had hit her. Green powder was all over the ground, a small trail of it from where the lump had been hurled at her led straight to a very smug looking Peridot.

Lapis lifted an eyebrow. "Peridot, try that again and you're gonna find yourself in a looot of trouble." She warned, using that voice that almost always got the little Gem to melt and start being a little sweetheart after acting up or starting to throw a tantrum. This time though, it didn't work. The tiny nerd grabbed another fist full of powder, red this time, with a mischievous grin. "Peri I swear you're gonna get it!"

The younger Gem just held her smirk and threw the powder at her. Lapis held her arms in front of her face but it wasn't going to stop it. Red dust now covered her arms and stomach, along with some of it getting into her eyes. "What?" Peridot asked, smug. "What am I gonna get?"

She backed up a few steps when Lapis advanced on her, the little smirk still on her damn face. The blue Gem scooped up two handfuls of orange powder and threw them into the blonde's face, she squealed and laughed before throwing yellow dust onto the water Gem's skirt. "Oh it is SO on!"

Lapis ducked out of the way of some blue dust. "What's the matter Peri? Lost your aim all of a sudden?" She teased, and sprayed the little Gem with pink and yellow dust getting it all over her legs and back.

"Nope!" Peridot chirped and whipped a large clump of dark green powder into Lapis' chest, the two had practically painted each other as dusty rainbows. Dust from all the colours Steven had given them were now smeared all over the lovers as they laughed and chased each other around the Barn.

"Give up yet Lapis?" Peridot crowed as she had managed to scurry behind one of the trash cans. "You tired?"

Lapis grinned and lifted some of the water from the pond. "Not even close." She remarked, and lifted the trash can up. Soon the younger of the two was being absolutely covered in blue dust, laughing and wheezing a she squirmed to try to get away from the taller Gem's grip. Suddenly, Peridot's leg swung out and hit Lapis' legs, taking her down before grabbing the large bag that she kept with her.

The dust covered Gem was easily able to pin Lapis down, for she had been laughing and not paying attention to what had been going on anymore. Peridot quickly got on top of her, and started to rub green powder all over the taller Gem's body.

Lapis squealed and snorted, tears of mirth leaking from her pale blue eyes from all the laughter. That is... Until she realized their positions.

Maybe Peridot hadn't quite realized, but she was VERY much straddling the older Gem's hips, rubbing all over her body and even threading her fingers through Lapis' fluffy hair just to make sure she was covered in green. Lapis' face burned as the younger Gem, a hand still rubbing her chest and the other in her hair, leaned down to the point where they were almost touching noses.

"I. Win." Peridot growled, and Lapis nodded.

"PERIDOT!" A loud squawk sounded from the other side of their yard. "What are you doing?!"

Oh, hello Pearl. What perfect timing the Crystal Gems had to walk in on them when it looked as if they were about to engage in more... Carnal activities. Hair ruffled, clothes tugged at as they had tried the grab each other to put more dust on them, panting and blushing with Peridot in an EXTREMELY compromising position.

Amethyst groaned. "How come the nerd has more luck with ladies than I do?!" She snickered. "I mean at least we got here before the show started, ya nasties."

"It's not what it looks like!" Peridot squeaked, her hand still placed on Lapis' chest. Amethyst immediately doubled over laughing, Garnet gave them a thumbs up, Steven covered his eyes and Pearl just gawked at them.

Lapis gave a big innocent smile. "Peri, don't lie, it's EXACTLY what it looks like."


	14. Costumes 2

Lapis didn't like the city very much, though there weren't many people the quietness of her Barn home was soothing. She didn't like to leave it.

What she DID like however, was getting to do fun things with the little Gem who'd stolen her heart. And so they walked together through Beach City toward the Temple. They'd been told not to use the Warp Pad, that it would ruin the surprise. She had to admit, the closer they got to the Temple the more curious and excited she felt about what Steven had in store for them.

"Lapis! Look!" Peridot exclaimed, pointing to a house. All over it were orange lights, carved up pumpkins, and fake bats hanging from a tree. "Humans are so odd, why would they put this all over their house?"

"Maybe they want those kids to come over to grab candy. I'd go there, it looks all colourful and neat. I bet they give out that chocolate stuff you like."

"Chocolate and peanut butter is the best combination in the galaxy and you know it." Peridot huffed, her cheeks pale teal as she squeezed the older Gem's hand. "Just like you and I."

At that it was Lapis' turn to blush, her face burned gold and she looked down at her feet. "Uh… Thanks."

She heard Peridot snort, "You're welcome gorgeous."

"Oh stop it!" Lapis tried to hold in laughter, the blonde had taken a liking to what she referred to as 'The art of Flirting'. It was funny, and Peridot was sweet. Lapis liked it a lot, especially when the two of them curled up together in the hammock.

"Did you like it?" Peridot asked, her face showing slight worry. The bluenette nodded though, and kissed her forehead, right on her gem. The shorter of the two squeaked and her eyes went wide. Her gem was sensitive to touch, and she liked having it kissed.

Within a few minutes of walking in a peaceful silence hand in hand, the two Gems had made it to the Temple. Through the door Lapis could hear a nice conversation between two voices she hadn't heard in a very long time. "It looks so good on you Ruby!"

"You think so?" It was Ruby, she sounded so proud and happy with... Whatever Sapphire had given her a compliment on. The blue Gem knocked on the door, a smirk on her face from the memory of those two not being able to keep their hands off each other during the baseball game.

That game had been surprisingly fun, Lapis actually somewhat hoped another crew of Homeworld's dimwits would come around looking for someone or something. Actually, on the other hand, maybe not, that was equal parts fun AND terrifying.

The door opened, Pearl stood there with her head peeking out to stare at them. "Oh! Hello, we were wondering when you two would show up, all of us have our costumes on already, I think you'll like what you're wearing. Steven made them." She explained, and in that moment Lapis looked down to see what the taller Gem was wearing. Her eyes widened at the sight of Pearl's outfit.

It was Amethyst's. Ripped looking lilac-white shirt, her hair was just as messy as the short quartz herself, with black pants that had dark violet stars on her knees, along with deep purple shoes. "Y'know Pearl, that's a good look for you." Lapis said with a smirk.

The older Gem's pointy nose scrunched up. "Oh get inside, you won't be so smug in a minute." She huffed, for the ex-servant could be snippy when it came to being teased over her affections for Amethyst.

Said quartz was currently playing with the bow the went around her waist. "Hey guys." She muttered as she tightened it. "P, how do you stand these shoes? They're so weird." The purple Gem wiggled her toes from within her flats, seeing her in pastel colors was… Odd to say the least.

Her hair was neater, as it was a bit hard to tame. Although the pale orange leggings looked odd the baby blue shirt she wore went nicely with her gem, which hadn't been covered up. Steven thought ahead for his friends.

Speaking of Steven, he was seated next to Connie wearing a dark navy outfit, a red sash going around his waist with his hands wrapped. It was Connie's training outfit, he was even holding the huge sword Connie had threatened them with in the bathroom!

Connie looked about the same as she did when she had been working together with Lapis and Peridot, she was laughing with Steven, something about a cute animal.

Oh, and don't worry, Pumpkin was resting safely at home in the hammock, where she would stay. She was a good veggie. They didn't want her to see any carved pumpkins.

But the two that seemed the most excited of all sat beside each other on the stair case. Ruby and Sapphire, dressed adorably in each other's clothes, sneaking in little kisses and were giggling softly to each other.

Red was a good look for Sapphire, the blue Gem's hair was pulled away from her single eye and held back by a red bandana. The outfit was form fitting, but not bad.

Blue was definitely a good look on Ruby, although maybe the BLUE Gem was just a little biased. Whatever. She looked nice in the dress, even if it looked a little too big for her, the gloves were a nice touch too. Her hair was free and had been obviously messed around with so that it somewhat hung down.

"Steven!" Ruby called, "Lapis and Peridot are here!"

Steven gasped and tackled the two of them in a crushing (but not painful) bear hug. "I missed you guys, I haven't talked to you in 2 whole days! I know it's not a lot, but it feels like it's been almost 5 months months!" The young boy looked up at them with his signature puppy dog eyes. "You guys are gonna try the costumes I made for you, right?"

Lapis could feel her heart melting from the look he gave the two of them. "Okay, we'll try them. Where are they buddy?"

Stars seemed to to twinkle in the little boy's eyes as he grinned up at her. "Thank you!" He cheered. "Lapis, you go first, there's a box in the bathroom with your name on it, you'll wear that one." He explained before adding "And please remember to close the door when you change!"

She nodded, and walked alone into the bathroom. Looking around there were only two boxes left unopened on the floor. Sure enough, there was a green box with her name on it. Peridot had taught her how to unwrap presents a long time ago, and so the water lover had gently tugged on the ribbon, her eyes widening upon seeing the contents even if she could guess them from the couples outside.

Peridot's outfit, re-sized to fit the taller Gem, complete with a green tinted visor (a little sticky note on it said 'optional!') along with a note asking Lapis to try to get her hair like that of her lover. After pushing most of her bangs away and bringing the part of her hair that never stayed down further up, Lapis deemed that she had it right.

She slipped off her top and skirt, when she snapped her fingers they both disappeared in a flash of golden light. Carefully, the ex-terraformer put on the surprisingly well-fitting outfit. She stared at herself in the mirror, shuddering for a second but not letting it bother her. Lapis had forgone the visor, but the outfit suited her quite well!

It hugged her form in all the right places, showing off her slight curves that little to no one knew she even had. The pants of it only came down to her ankles, as Steven knew she felt a little uncomfortable with something on her feet. The hole for her gem was small, just big enough for the teardrop shaped stone with a little wiggle room.

Lapis liked this, she could see why Peridot took pride in her appearance. She felt nice.

Once the blue Gem stepped out of the bathroom, there were many 'oohs' that floated through the Temple. Her cheeks burned a dark gold upon seeing Peridot's gaze wander all over her body, what was it called... 'checking her out'?

In a flash Peridot sprinted into the bathroom. She was definitely excited, the younger Gem loved getting gifts. Lapis waited on the staircase railing, the gold blush never leaving her face, and only getting worse when Peridot left the bathroom in her outfit.

Oh, Steven had done a good job on that one. The little technician was stunning! Her hair fallen from its usual shape into a soft slightly curled look, her visor gone allowing the whole world to see her pretty blue eyes, and Lapis' outfit looked adorable on her. The little bow tied up neatly, those shades of blue looking so perfect against her lover's lime green skin, and the skirt that flowed around her like water with every move she made. Peridot was beautiful.

The two locked eyes, and Lapis scooped up the smaller Gem, nuzzling her cheek and giggling with her. This was going to be a good night.


	15. Costumes 3

Peridot scooped Chrysocolla up into her arms. The tiny girl giggled and hugged her mother tightly, her pudgy hands holding on to her neck as she babbled happily. Her daughter was little over two years old, and she was already so precious and sweet. Her soft blonde hair now reached her shoulders, and her eyes had stayed their lovely dark blue.

Chrysocolla's brother on the other hand, his eyes had settled into their brilliant green, just like his biological mother. His soft ginger hair was fluffy like hers, and was getting close to his shoulders as well. He was currently in Lapis' arms, giggling as the blue haired woman tickled him.

The young couple and their children were in the middle of their local Walmart, specifically in the kids costumes aisle. Halloween was in a few days, and they would be bringing the happy twins out for a little treat. Pumpkin reached out one of his tiny arms towards a little grey and white bunny suit. "Bunny!" Her son chirped, waving his pudgy little hand and grabbing at the soft costume.

Lapis immediately puffed out her bottom lip and gazed at Peridot with puppy eyes. "Peri I can't do this, it's too cute."

The blonde leaned up on her tiptoes and gave her loving wife a peck on the cheek. "Let's see how he looks in it." Lapis nodded and placed their son on the floor. "Okay baby, you wanna be a bunny?"

Pumpkin squealed happily, "Yeah!" The ginger baby grinned up at his mothers, his sister placed gently beside him. "Love bunnies!"

"Me too!" Chrysocolla piped up beside him, pointing at the white and baby blue rabbit costume. "I want it too!" When Peridot looked up at Lapis, the bluenette just shrugged.

"They'll match."

Peridot nodded with a huge grin, she loved her babies so much, she wanted the whole world to know just how cute and sweet the twins were, how she would go through the painful 8 hour labour over and over again if it all meant she could be happy with her lovely kids, and perfect wife.

Speaking of said angel, Lapis grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Don't look now, Pearl and her wife are here." She whispered, and left a kiss on Peridot's cheek. The blonde let out a soft growl, Pearl had been her rival since they were kids, and they even worked in the same place together now, and were still rivals. "Oh look they brought Opal."

Ah yes, Opal. Pearl and Amethyst's daughter, she was 3 years old and a sweetheart. Peridot glared at the adorable happy family.

"We'll crush them."

Lapis leaned over, resting her head on the short woman's shoulder, an eyebrow raised in her famous deadpan expression. "Wha?"

The blonde looked up at her, "Pearl thinks she's so much better than me, just because she's tall, and more graceful than I am and-"

"Peridot." Lapis gave her that warning glare. "Don't you dare start with that self-hate, now help me dress up our babies." She told her, grabbing the younger girl's hand. "We're gonna out-cute them, and the twins are gonna have fun while we do it."

Soon, the twins were dressed in their little bunny outfits, giggling and snacking on the gummies that Lapis had bought them. Peridot clenched her teeth and growled upon seeing Pearl watch her with that smug grin. "Oh, hi Peridot, your children are quite cute. Did you see what Opal picked out, I swear kids are so odd!"

Amethyst and Lapis looked at each other, Lapis holding the twins in her arms and Opal clinging to Amethyst's leg. "It begins."

Opal looked up at them and smiled, the young girl was dressed up as Artemis. Of course she was, Pearl was a mythology nerd and loved reading certain fiction stories about them to her child.

Peridot snickered. "I'll admit, she IS very cute looking, especially with that bow, but wait until you see my little ones!" The blonde bragged, and took Pumpkin from her wife's arms. "They match, which isn't really a surprise considering they're inseparable." She snuggled her son, who pressed his little mouth against her shoulder in a cute little baby kiss. Out of habit Peridot pressed a quick smooch against her baby boy's soft ginger hair.

Pearl actually looked impressed. "They are pretty cute, I hope that'll keep the two of them warm."

From her spot watching the two nerds try to outdo each other in terms of how much they loved their kids, Lapis gently murmured to her buddy, "At least they're tiring each other out."

Amethyst nodded with an exhausted smile, it was beginning to get a bit late, Peridot and Pearl did this every single time they saw each other. "Yeah, thank god. She'll actually sleep tonight."

"Oh yeah, Peri hates sleeping, I have to carry her up to our room when she's barely conscious some nights and she still whines." The two snickered as their respective wives glared at each other.

Bing! "Attention shoppers, the store will be closing in 15 minutes due to the upcoming holiday, we apologize for this inconvenience, thank you for shopping with us!" Bing!

Oh, that's right, they had the only Wal-Mart in Delmarva that closed on Holidays. Peridot helped Pumpkin out of his costume, the young boy smiling with glee as he sat in the back of their buggy with his twin. Chrysocolla was yawning, the sweet toddler was more than ready for bed. Lapis pushed the buggy while Peridot and Pearl glared at each other.

Their stuff had been paid for, thee twins happy with their costumes and Opal with hers. "So, we'll see you guys out around the neighbourhood for Halloween? I'll give Opal some candy." Peridot commented, too happy with her children's content smiles to care about her rivalry anymore.

Pearl nodded, "I'll give some to the twins."

"Well!" Lapis chirped, "Looks like everything's is gonna be fine, and I won't have to basically ground Peri-Hey!"She snorted when Peridot smacked her shoulder. "Baby I'm just telling the truth!" The blue haired woman squealed when Peridot blew a raspberry on her cheek.

It was a happy moment, giggly, bubbly and peaceful. Peridot went over to her precious babies, giving them their sippy cups full of water. Lapis yawned and leaned back a little on the display behind her, which immediately gave way under her and fell to the floor with a loud crash, the glass bottles inside shattering spilling the juice inside all over the floor.

The blue haired girl hadn't fallen, but all the colour seemed to have drained from her tan face. She looked over at her wife, whose pale skin looked to be the colour of chalk, both of them were terrified, that had to be so much money, the glass was beautiful and the juice was an odd expensive kind.

They looked over at Pearl, who only looked back and forth between the massive mess and the woman who'd caused it. Amethyst took her hand, and in a low but audible voice spoke a single command.

"Run."

Every mother ran out from the store, carrying their children in their arms and heading for their cars. High school never ended did it?


	16. Tricks 1

Peridot grinned, this was perfect! She and Lapis were going to get so much candy, this was brilliant!

The short Gem had planned out a route for herself and Lapis to travel tonight, the path would maximize the amount of candy they got, not to mention the two of them had amazing ideas. Lapis could use water clones, and Peridot had planned to steal it from inattentive people. 'Take one', yeah right! She'd be dumping the whole bowl into her pillowcase, which was going to be on her wagon (which Lapis would guard).

Both Gems had pillowcases that Steven had given them to fill with candy. The green Gem herself had a love of sweets, her pretty roommate liked the more sour ones, that was fine though! They could divide them up, and the two of them liked to share things. "Lapis, are you ready?" She called.

"Yeah, how do I look?" The blue gem asked, looking like the angelic monster from one of Steven's scarier games, she had even been able to shape-shift the broken stuck-in-the-skull halo it had along with tiny horns that poked through her now black hair. Steven had given her this… Goo, it smelled bad, but it had changed her hair from its electric blue to an inky black.

"Beautiful."

Peridot herself had dressed up as a little devil. She had managed to shape-shift (after a few hours) a long, thin, black tail, her own horns (black to Lapis' white), and had found herself now black "footie pajamas" (why had the Crystal Gems snickered when she'd told them about it?) and a large white bow-tie. Her costume fit perfectly with what she had planned.

The two of them headed out, Lapis sitting in the wagon with a large cloud of invisible water vapour behind them, Peridot was pulling it using her metal powers as she made her way down the neighbourhood.

The cloud split into multiple small versions of the Ocean Gem, each one adorable like the Gem who'd made them. Peridot turned to face Lapis, she leaned over and gave the older Gem a kiss on the cheek. "Have fun with your water, and behave. Garnet said if we get 'arrested' again she won't 'bail us out' until tomorrow." The shorter of thee two explained. Lapis gave a lazy half smile and played with her now black bangs, many people staring at the halo that jutted out from the top of her head.

Peridot snickered as she quickly made her way through the dark night, and headed up to a porch with a few children there, the adults distracted as she managed to grab at least two (tiny) handfuls of candy and run off before she was seen.

Tiny water Lapis' ran through the streets, their creator tapping her fingers as she leaned her head back over the side, her bare feet tapping as she hummed softly to herself. Peridot poured the candy in her tiny bag into the bigger one that rested beside the pretty blue Gem. Lapis looked up at her, "You having fun Peri?" She asked, the little Gem nodded with a huge grin and danced a little on the spot, her lover ruffled her hair and leaned up to kiss her gem. "Good, go get your candy, I'll guard it all here. Have fun pea."

At the nickname, Peridot blushed and nodded again. "O-okay." She murmured and shuffled her feet. Lapis liked to use that nickname for the green Gem, it flustered her beyond belief and got her all shy. "I love you."

Lapis smirked and caressed Peridot's warm cheek. "I love you too."

It wasn't long before the blonde had completely filled up the bag, the wagon had actually become harder to pull, and she had stolen at least 7 full bowls of candy. She brought them home, Lapis making her water clones disappear into vapour before letting them go.

The two excited Gems made their way back into their Barn, digging through candy and throwing the wrappers into the corner, they'd clean them up in the morning.

Lapis grinned as she nibbled on licorice and marshmallows, giggling a bit when Peridot rapidly went through 3 tiny chocolate bars. "You gonna slow down pea? You don't wanna eat it all tonight, do you?"

Peridot shook her head, her mouth stuffed with treats. "No, but I earned dish!" Her muffled voice squawked. She swallowed and smiled as she crawled into the blue Gem's lap. "I worked hard to get this."

The older of the two wrapped an arm around her lover's waist to keep her from falling off. She loved Peridot dearly, but had the slight feeling that the tiny Gem was going to be singing a much different tune about all these sweets once she was done scarfing them down. Peridot had taken lots of the peanut butter cups, they were her favourite. Lapis herself was happy with her chips and sour gummies.

"Welp, I'm gonna go to sleep, you coming?" Lapis asked, standing up and stretching, a shiver passing through her back when she did. Peridot shook her head, her lips covered in chocolate that she was licking off. Lapis shrugged. "Okay then, I love you."

"I love you too Lapis." Her beloved responded, munching on more candy. Lapis could sense a bit of discomfort in Peridot's voice, maybe she was getting tired and was being fussy about sleeping again, though if that was the case Lapis couldn't just FORCE the little Gem to go bed. She'd come around on her own if she wanted to.

The taller Gem laid down in her hammock, and drifted off to sleep.

2 hours later, the world still dark with the sun not yet risen, Lapis woke up to the sound of Peridot whimpering. "Peri...?"

The little Gem could be heard groaning, whimpering and crying in pain. Lapis hurried over to where Peridot had been, she was still with their candy, curled up on the floor clutching her stomach. "It hurts... I just wanted more candy, but I was already full, so I just had a few pieces, a-and...Oh my stars Lapis I feel so sick!" She whined, the older Gem gently scooped her up. "What are you doing?"

She carried the little Gem in her arms, and walked over to where they kept a mattress in the corner. Lapis gently placed Peridot down. "Lay flat please." She told her, and the blonde did so. Carefully, Lapis took the clothes off of her lover, leaving her in the 'bra' and 'panties' that she had liked. Dark green, typical, most Gems loved their own colour. Lapis left those on, smirking a bit upon seeing Peridot blush. The blue Gem had always admired her physical form, thick hips, shapely ass and cute little breasts.

"You're staring." Peridot murmured, and Lapis snapped out of it. She laid a cool hand down on the younger Gem's stomach and rubbed gently. At first Peridot had hissed in pain, before settling and purring a little, shivering with a smile (her purring got louder) when Lapis rubbed her with two hands, kissing her cheeks.

"Don't do that again Peri, okay? I hate seeing you all upset, and it's not like the candy's going anywhere. It's okay to take things slowly Peri. Now, come to bed little pea, it's about time you got some rest." Lapis picked her up again, and imagined from the content sigh Peridot made meant that she was happy. Lapis lowered them onto the mattress, Peridot held tightly in her arms as she wrapped a blanket around them.

Lapis would make sure to not offer Peridot any candy the next day, the only sweet thing on the green Gem's mouth would be her.


	17. Candy 2

Lapis smiled as she set three different kinds of candy bags on the counter. Chocolate, different chocolate for children with 'allergies', and mixed sour gummy candy. The blue gem's favourite of these was the gummy ones, especially the ones that looked like little sharks, but these weren't for her. They were for her and Peridot to hand out to young humans who came along, dressed up in costumes and asking for 'tricks or treats'.

According to Steven, they actually only wanted treats. Weird, she'd want to see cool tricks, but whatever, humans were weird anyways.

Kind of like Gems, not that any Gem other than Amethyst would admit to that.

"Peridot!" She called, a tiny smile on her face as the smaller Gem ran towards her. Peridot had been working on fixing their weather-vane, which had blown off during a windstorm and gotten dented. "Okay, I need three bowls, all the same size, can you get them?"

The smaller Gem gave her signature grin, "Of course I can!" She chirped, and brought out the three large bowls they had bought for this. They mostly had smaller ones, just for Steven's snacks if he slept over, but they were excited! According to Garnet, handing out candy was fun. You'd get to see tiny humans in adorable little costumes, and it meant their decorating would be appreciated by more people.

Little Jack-O-Lantern fairy lights were strung up around the outside of the barn, leaves that Lapis had collected were made into decorations, and Peridot had used bedsheets and bent metal bars to make ghosts that weren't scary like in the movies, but somewhat cute.

The blue haired gem flew over to the pond, and tilted her head. Steven had given them powder that would change the water's colour, but what should they use... There were a few options, red, green, and black. She tossed the black one aside, it would be dark, no point to that.

"Lapis! I did it!" She jumped when Peridot squealed. The tiny Gem held one of the silver bowls in her arm, and held up the other two with her metal powers. All three had been filled up with candy. "So, what do you think? I know, I'm pretty amazing."

The Ocean Gem snorted, laughter making her shake. "Yeah, you're pretty cool Peri." She said, making the smaller Gem's eyes light up. Peridot did a tiny dance where she stood, being careful not to spill her candy. "Okay, now go set those up, the sun is almost all the way down, so humans will be here soon!" She told her, laughing softly at the younger Gem's happy little face. "And no taking peanut butter cups either!"

"I won't!" Peridot called as she set the three bowls on their table, which had plastic sparkly gold and orange vines all around the edges of it. "I promise I won't take any, we can just have leftovers if there are any." She exclaimed and sat on her stool over-looking the countryside. The sun burned a dark red in the sky, which had swirled itself into a beautiful pink and orange. Inspired, Lapis dumped the bag of red powder into the lake.

It tasted like that strawberry stuff, sweet with a little bit of tang to it. The lake had turned a nice red colour, with Lapis swirled it with her finger and made it bubble before pouring a very sweet, very fine powder known as 'sugar' by humans.

Everything for the two Gems was going well. Their candy was set up, so were the decorations, and they were fully ready for children to come up for treats!

It was later that night, that the two Gems realized that... No one was coming. They... Did live pretty far out, and it was getting late. All their hard work had gone to waste, their smiles faded as Lapis hopped off of her seat. She saw Peridot stare at her, confused. "Where is anyone? We have candy, and we're nice, why isn't anyone showing up...?" She asked, Lapis sighed and shook her head.

"No one is coming Peri, we live out in the middle of nowhere, we tried but... It was doomed from the start." Lapis muttered, and walked over to where their decorations hung. Gently, the blue Gem removed them and placed them in a corner of the Barn where they'd be safe. She still liked the decorations, even if this night had ended up being disappointing.

The bluenette jumped a little upon hearing a soft thump from outside. "Peri?" She peeked outside and frowned. The blonde had sat herself at their lake, her arms crossed over her chest as she pouted and huffed.

"It's not fair. The other Gems get to have so much fun, and they never tell us about things beforehand, so we can't go." Peridot growled. Lapis sat herself behind her, her legs going along the younger Gem's and her fingertips gently playing with the back of Peridot's fluffy hair.

"I know Peri." Lapis muttered, petting the blonde and pulling her closer to sit in her lap. "But... I know a way we could have fun, right here in the Barn. And we'd have our candy, would you like that?" She asked, and Peridot nodded before yawning and clinging to her neck. Ah, that's why she was upset, she was tired and cranky.

Using little bits of the red sweet water, Lapis lifted the three bowls full of candy up to the porch. She grabbed Peridot's alien plushie, removing the water from it and bringing it up to the porch with them. The two Gems snuggled together on the couch, Lapis feeding her beloved little treats and waiting until the green Gem fell asleep.

"I love you." Peridot murmured, watching the TV, which had been turned on when they'd come up here. The two of them were watching the Camp Pining Hearts Halloween special, which though it was a cheesy murder mystery type of thing, Lapis liked it.

"I love you too Peri."


	18. Treats 3

"Okay guys, time to get to bed, it's almost past 10:30." Lapis said gently to the twins, they both groaned a bit. Pumpkin in his Pikachu costume and Chrysocolla in her owl costume. They were now 6 years old, and were quite the little charmers, with the neighbours giving the sweet children extra candy for Halloween.

"Mommy please? Can we stay up just a little longer?" Pumpkin asked, his sister nodded beside him, but yawned right afterwards. "We promise we'll be up early tomorrow!" The ginger boy pouted, his bright green eyes had dark circles under them.

Chrysocolla hugged Peridot's leg. "Please Mama, it's Friday, we don't have school tomorrow, can we please stay up?" She looked so cute, pleading with her mother, but Peridot gently picked her up and held her in her lap.

"Sweetie it's already way past your bedtime, you guys can have candy tomorrow." Said the blonde. Chrysocolla frowned but nodded. "C'mere Pumpkin, Mama wants to snuggle both of you before bed." She told him, the little boy crawled up the couch and into her other arm. Peridot held her babies close, kissing their foreheads as Lapis grinned and took pictures.

Pumpkin curled up in her arms, yawning along with his sister. "Mama, can we have toast for breakfast tomorrow?" He asked, and Peridot nodded.

Chrysocolla wrapped her tiny arms around Peridot's waist. "Mommy said we could have candy at breakfast, because she likes candy too!"

At that Peridot looked over at her wife with a sly smile. "Oh did she now? We'll see about that." She got the twins closer together and hugged them tightly. "You can have some if you go to bed. I love you guys so much." She told them.

"I love you too Mama." They said in unison. The blonde gently put her daughter in Lapis' arms, along with her son, so she could get up. The tiny woman kissed both of her children, her wife doing the same. "We love you too Mommy!"

She saw Lapis' eyes shine with pride as she carried their children to their shared bedroom. Neither one of them would dare separate the twins, and it didn't matter anyway, they liked a lot of the same things, and loved playing together.

Lapis placed both of their children down into bed. "Good night Chrysocolla, good night Pumpkin. Sweet dreams you guys." Peridot tucked them in and the two mothers turned out the lights, walking quietly into the kitchen.

Peridot felt arms snake around her sides. "They're so perfect, and just think, we made them."

The blonde looked up at her with a dry smile. "Excuse you, I made them. You assisted and let me almost break your hand trying to push them out."

Lapis snickered, "Worth it. You made the cutest kids in the world Peri." She gave the blonde a quick peck on the cheek. Peridot blushed and wiggled where she stood, looking down at her feet and grinning.

Their little moment was interrupted however, when a faint rumbling sound could be heard. The taller of the two snorted and hugged Peridot gently around her neck. "Aww, you hungry?"

The small woman nodded. "Yeah, I am. I mean, dinner was 5 hours ago, so you can't blame me for being a little hungry." Peridot explained while turning around in her wife's embrace to poke one of her childishly round cheeks. "Foooooood…"

Lapis squeezed her, leaned down to give her another kiss on her forehead before leaning down even further. "I can think of something I like to eat." She whispered, and Peridot's face felt like she had tried to kiss the literal sun.

"I… I uh…"

"What, you don't want any candy?" Lapis asked 'innocently'. "I thought you loved sweets." The blonde smacked her arm playfully and buried her face in her neck, nodding. "Oh, you do? Well come on then."

There was just one nagging problem. "Lapis we don't have any." Peridot pointed out. They'd had a few chocolate bars but had eaten them yesterday night. With a smirk her wife pointed over to the massive bags of candy their children collected. "What? Lapis, no, those are for the twins. We can't just take from it."

Lapis lifted an eyebrow. "Seriously? Sure we can. Besides Peri they're 6, they aren't gonna eat all of this, and I don't want them trying to eat all of it either, my mother's going to spoil them rotten when she visits for Thanksgiving so… Eat treats with me until we pass out?" She finished her question with a hopeful smile, and Peridot rolled her eyes. Her wife was lucky she loved her.

"You're ridiculous... Of course I will." Peridot caved, and knelt down beside the candy bags. "But nothing that they were excited to get, like Chryssy with her chocolate caramel bars or Pumpkin with his marshmallows. And nothing that's one of a kind either." She told her, and dug out a small bag of sour candy before tearing it open and eating the few tiny treats inside.

Lapis cupped and hand over her mouth, presumably to hide the grin she took on when Peridot's face scrunched up. "Here." She chuckled and tossed the blonde a water bottle.

"It's a little sour." Peridot remarked after she had chugged half of it. The two chuckled together quietly and snacked on the different treats.

They were dorks in love, feeding each other and exchanging sweet sugary kisses and holding each other close in their moonlit living room. Both their hearts seemed to beat in synch.

Though Peridot swore hers stopped once she heard the pitter-patter of her precious babies feet hitting the floor. The two of them hadn't taken much, but they still felt somewhat bad. "Quick, in my bra!" Peridot whisper-shouted, and they shoved the wrappers for the little bit of candy they had into the short woman's black bra.

"Mama? Mommy?" Chrysocolla was rubbing her eyes, her brother just behind her yawning. "We can't sleep, can we go in your bed with you guys?"

Peridot nodded, awkward and careful not to let anything slip out as she stood up. "Okay, Mommy and I just have to change, then we can all cuddle in the big bed, okay?" She ruffled their hair and walked off to her room, Lapis following her quickly.

The blonde changed quickly, making sure to keep the candy wrappers at the bottom of the trash can in their room. She opened the door and let the twins in. They scrambled into her and Lapis' bed, the whole family snuggling together.

Peridot locked eyes with her wife after the twins had drifted off, Pumpkin on her side and Chrysocolla closer to Lapis. "Hey, Lapis?" She asked in barely a whisper.

"Yeah baby?"

The blonde grinned. "We are such fuckin geniuses."


	19. Halloween 1

"Happy Halloween guys!" Steven cheered as small bits of confetti rained down on Peridot and Lapis. The two had just entered the Temple, and were grinning like fools, the flight here had been so much fun, tucking and diving through the golden clouds as they laughed and watched humans gather treats from other humans.

The whole city was decorated beautifully, bright orange lights glowed and music played as tiny 'children' ran around dressed up in adorable costumes. Peridot already liked this holiday, an added bonus? The Crystal Gems Temple smelt so good! She saw Pearl standing by the oven chatting with Jasper, showing her something she had made.

Oh yeah, Jasper was here too. She didn't want to live in the Barn with them, not for any bad reason, she just felt it was too cramped for all three of them. The large quartz had tried, but that had ended with Peridot's poor toes being stepped on as her taller friends tried to maneuver around all their things. They had apologized, but Jasper decided it was best to live in a sea cave she'd taken a liking to.

"I still don't get it though." Peridot heard Jasper mutter. "If it's not safe to eat it uncooked, then what the nebula is HEAT gonna do?" Her eyes widened, she wasn't used to Jasper cursing. She'd made a mean little joke when they'd worked together. 'can't curse around the little one'. Oh she'd hated it, the blonde despised being short, it was absolutely-

"You're a Gem! You can't get food poisoning, now go with Amethyst and the balloons!" Pearl snapped halfheartedly. Jasper just snickered and went to sit beside the purple Gem, who was blowing up orange and black balloons and letting them go to fly around the house making a sound that sort of sounded like one of Lapis' raspberries.

Speaking of the blue haired Gem, she was currently at the kitchen counter snaking on a few cookies that had little leaf shaped sprinkles on them. She had orange and red icing smeared a bit on her adorably puffy cheeks. Lapis waved at her. "Peridot, you've got to try these! They're so good!"

Peridot laughed and hugged her from behind. "I think I'll pass, I'll eat the other treats when they come around."

And she had, mini 'sugar pies' had been made, along with more cookies, cupcakes, and Peridot's personal favourite, toasted marshmallows with chocolate drizzled on top. They had left her fingers a gooey mess but the technician loved the tasty treats, and shared them with her beloved.

They all sat on a large air mattress, one that must have somehow been magic, as it was able to hold them all. Peridot sat in the tall blue Gem's lap, everyone had finished their food when Garnet told them that they were all going to watch a movie together, a movie Steven loved, something about a Great Pumpkin, Peridot hadn't been listening.

She'd been too busy enjoying a sweet kiss from Lapis. The two had hidden themselves under the staircase, Peridot had just snuck another marshmallow and Lapis had managed to grab a tiny cupcake before Pearl moved the tray so none of the greedy Gems could take too many treats. Both she and Lapis were giggling, quietly shushing each other as the others watched the movie.

"Hey Lapis?" Peridot whispered, bringing the blue Gem close, her hair was a mess now but her bright blue eyes were shining like stars. "Can... Can we try something?"

She watched in the faint light from the television as Lapis' lips quirked up into a sly smile. "What? Come on Peri don't be shy, I'm not gonna judge you for anything."

Peridot nodded, a teal blush sweeping through her cheeks as she reached up and slipped her visor off. The short Gem had never taken it off before, it was something her gem had created to keep her eyes safe and to mark her as a 'leader Gem', which meant that other Gems were supposed to listen to her during missions. Jasper hadn't cared on their mission though, although the blonde supposed that was due to her status as an Era 1 war veteran.

Whatever, Peridot thought they made her look cool.

But now, they were being placed onto the ground with gentle care, if they broke she could form a new one, but she didn't entirely want to. She looked up at Lapis and her breath hitched. "O-oh my Stars, you're so... Pretty."

She was. Peridot had never seen her lover without the tint from her visor, she had never known just how BLUE Lapis was, her lovely pale blue skin with tiny golden freckles on her nose, cheeks and shoulders that were only visible if you stared hard enough at them, her electric blue hair that was in an ever-changing state between neat or fluffy as could be. Then there were her eyes, which sparkled like the night sky and made the technician feel tongue-tied.

For Lapis, seeing Peridot's eyes for the first time was incredible. They weren't the dark green that she had imagined, but a pretty and powerful pale teal. Her gem even looked brighter without the tint, it gleamed in the light cast by the TV, and she laughed softly when a bit of Peridot's hair fell to give her ever so slight bangs. Not enough to cover her gem, but enough to make her look somehow softer.

"I... I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but I wasn't sure if you'd like it. Lapis I... I love all the hugs I get from you, a-and being able to hold your hand, I really do love it but... I was wondering, can I kiss you?" Peridot asked before she quickly added in, "Please?"

The seemingly simple request made the ex-terraformer's heart melt. Peridot loved her so much, she was asking permission for a kiss just to make sure the blue Gem wouldn't feel any pressure to have to do it.

Even if she hadn't, Lapis would kiss her anyways. So she did, long and slow but so sweet, both Gems could have sworn they felt a current of energy flow through them. Maybe because it had.

A once dimly lit living room became bathed in a brilliant blue and green glow. Where there had once been two kissing Gems now only stood one. Her 4 arms wrapped around herself tightly in what seemed to be a hug. Peridot's visor had disappeared, and hadn't come back. The new fusion stepped out from her place, she was only about as tall a Garnet, only slightly taller.

The Crystal Gems all seemed to have very different reactions to this new life.

Steven squealed at the top of his lungs and started to take pictures.

Pearl's jaw dropped, her eyes wide, she hadn't thought Peridot was capable of fusing at all.

Garnet smiled brightly at her fellow fusion, unable to bring a sentence up as her heart filled with joy.

Amethyst clapped and cheered, congratulating both of them for 'reaching new heights'. Very funny Amethyst.

Jasper's eyes had gone wide, not for the same reason as Pearl, but because she didn't think Lapis would fuse with anyone ever again. But she smiled, happy for them, and joined her sister in cheering for them.

The new fusion blushed from all the attention, and looked all over her body. Lapis' skirt had shortened and was now only covering her thighs, Peridot's clothing had become leggings that stopped just at her knees, her teal feet were bare. Her 4 arms also had nothing on them, only small green and blue freckles, she had somewhat long eyelashes from her 2 eyes, which were 2 different colours, pale blue and teal.

The top of her outfit was tight-looking, hugging her nicely with a large bow in the back just below one of her gems and between the 2 pairs of arms, the ones on her shoulders and one pair at her waist. The curvy fusion's turquoise hair was incredibly fluffy, the points from Peridot had somewhat fallen, and Lapis' bangs had shortened, but it still had something from the both of them.

Steven stepped forward to her, a tiny by comparison hand outstretched. "Hi there, I'm Steven, do you remember me still?" He asked gently, he knew from Garnet to be cautious with new fusions. She nodded, and smiled at him, 2 of her hands, 1 lower and 1 higher going out at the same time to shake his. The young boy giggled. "So, do you know what your name is?"

It took a few seconds for the newborn fusion to think of something, but she did. With a toothy grin she responded with joy as her arms wrapped back around herself, being careful not to cover the small but shining turquoise star on her belly.

"My name is Chrysocolla."


	20. Halloween 2

Oh humans could be so loud! So much louder than Steven or Connie, their shrieks rang in the blonde's ears, screams in the dark… Peridot didn't like the dark, she couldn't see well at all, and she had played around using her metal powers so much today that using her gem's light would be too tiring.

Lapis was so happy though, she desperately wanted to go outside and look at all the decorations that the humans had put on their homes. Humans seemed to love this Holiday, and Peridot had to admit that parts of it were definitely nice, like the candy and costumes that Pearl made. That was it though, she was too easily spooked to enjoy the fact that this day was dedicated to people actually wanting to scare others and be scared.

She had a relatively nice costume, she was dressed up like a little bat, with the Ocean Gem dressed up as a vampire queen. Both of them had little fangs, but Peridot had large black strips of fabric sewn onto the dark brown 'footie pyjamas' she wore for her costume to look like wings. Lapis had painted her nails black and red, and wore a long royal blue cape with its collar going up around the back of her head. Speaking of her head, she wore a silver crown with bright red sequins.

Peridot pulled down her hood, though the soft fabric felt nice to rub her cheeks on it pressed her hair down in a way she didn't like. Lapis was at the front doors of the Barn. "Well Peri, you ready?" She asked, but frowned when she saw that the green Gem was shaking. "Hey, what's the matter?"

Peridot looked up at her, before looking back down at her feet. "I just… It's nothing. I'm fine."

At that, the bluenette frowned. "Peridot." She started before bending down to be eye level with her. "I can tell when you're upset, do you not like your costume?"

Bright eyes widened as the blonde gasped. "What?! Lapis no! I love my costume, it's soft and goes with yours!" Peridot squawked.

Lapis tilted her head, confused. "What is it then? Are you nervous?"

The green Gem looked back down, threading her fingers together. "Yes…" She whispered, and sighed a bit when Lapis placed a hand on her shoulder. "I can't help it, the humans are too loud and it's too dark out."

The ex-terraformer seemed lost in thought. "Hmm…. Well, we don't have to go out if you don't want to." She told her, but Peridot shook her head, tugging on her Barn-Mate's skirt.

"No, I won't to go out, Steven said it would be a lot of fun… I want to try this, I do. Handing out candy last year at the 'Big Donut' was fun, but I want to be on the other side now." She explained, and opened her arms, showing off the little wings on them. "I'm just a bit scare- oof!"

Before she could even finish, Lapis had practically flown into her open arms. Peridot hadn't been necessarily OFFERING a hug, but who was she to complain? The older Gem was warm and soft, she patted Peridot's back and rubbed between her shoulders.

The little Gem sighed with happiness when Lapis rubbed a very certain spot right in between her shoulder blades, the blonde felt the urge to tap her foot against the ground, especially when she felt the older Gem's nail gently scratching there. She heard Lapis starting to snicker and looked up. "What?"

"You're cute." Lapis gave her a fanged smile, the fake but shiny jewels on her crown glimmering in the moonlight. "Fluffy hair, hugs eyes, tiny nose, and that costume is precious."

Peridot blushed a bit, and growled softly. "I am not cute. I'm dressed as a monster!" She protested, but Lapis shook her head.

"No, I am. That's why you're just a sweet little bat, my tiny lover who will fly out, find me some nice tasty mortals so I can drink their blood." Lapis told her, playing with Peridot's wings and blowing a raspberry on her cheek. The blonde squealed and squirmed where she stood.

"W-w-what if I don't w-want to?" She asked through her bubbly laughter. Lapis had accidentally tickled her sensitive gem with her soft bangs.

The blue Gem seemed to be happy that Peridot was playing along. "Otherwise I.. I uh… I… I won't share my candy with you."

"That's fine, I'll get my own." Peridot told her, and both Gem's eyes widened. "So… I am going out, with you. We're going to have fun together, because we have each other." She gave the bluenette a smile, and hugged her tightly. "I just…"

She couldn't seem to get her request into words, her lover pulled away from her, and gently reached a hand out. Peridot nodded, and took it gently before pulling it close to her chest. "You… Wanna hold my hand while we go? I'll hold your hand if you want, I'd love to."

At Lapis' words the green Gem squeezed her hand. "Yeah, we'll do it together, holding on tight, and having the best Halloween ever!"

The two stepped out together, hand in hand, beginning their little quest for candy. "Hey Peri?" Lapis asked.

"Yeah?" Peridot tried to respond, only to squeak like a helpless dork once she felt those soft lips pressing against her cheek, breathing in the Ocean Gem's sweet scent as her face flushed dark teal.

"Happy Halloween."


	21. Halloween 3

_**AN: Before reading this, I VERY MUCH suggest you read 'Arcane Gems' first. It's not long.**_

"Happy Hallowtide!" Lapis cheered as she hugged Peridot from behind. The blonde had been looking through her book, looking at her case study of none other than the beautiful Siren herself. "I can't wait to show you everything!"

The blonde turned around and wrapped her arms tightly around her mate before lifting her up into the air. "So, how do Sirens celebrate this? I know all of you guys do it differently." It was true, Hallowtide was a sacred day to all Arcane creatures, it was the one day the rules all around the kingdoms were lifted. Monsters could walk freely and buy things for the same price as humans, for just one day the discrimination they faced lifted.

"Well, I tend to celebrate with Witches, but Sirens take glowing crystals and put them in the river for it to sparkle." She explained. "They also have this huge feast of phosphorescent fish. It's always pretty fun, but I prefer the Witch style to this, since we're the ones who love Hallowtide the most if I do say so myself."

"Damn right we do!" Amethyst startled the young couple when she burst through the bushes, a happy gleam in her eyes. "This is the best day ever! Treats, pumpkin stuff, and getting to wear all the cool scarves!"

The blonde tilted her head and her eyes narrowed. "Scarves?" She was so confused about all of this. Lapis was bouncing on her heels, she took a pale green silk scarf from a small box she had been holding and handed it to the taller woman. It shimmered and Peridot gently wove it through her fingers, and felt so soft to the touch. "Did... Did you make this?"

Lapis snickered and shook her head. "No, I didn't but I did gather the materials for it. Garnet likes to make them, she's really good at it too! She makes all of ours every year. Witches wear these, we get new ones every year, and everyone who celebrates with us can have one too!"

There was growling from the other side of the clearing. Jasper sat there, her human form changed into that of a massive white wolf, an orange and red scarf tiny around her massive front paw. "I look ridiculous don't I?" She asked.

Peridot watched as Lapis rolled her eyes and bent down to Jasper's level. "You look fine, it's just for one night, and you've worn them in your wolf form before." She said gently to the grumpy Werewolf. "It's just a little scarf."

The woman turned wolf huffed and walked away to sit beside Carnelian, who had also turned into a wolf, though she was much smaller due to being half human, and her fur was a dark crimson like her hair. The two of them sat beneath the almost full moon and howled loudly. Skinny and Bismuth sat nearby watching them. Skinny had red pigment painted on her pale skin and a beautiful little orange stone bracelet, her fangs glistening pink from the punch she'd made. It was Vampire tradition to make sweet, pink drinks for the night along with wear the jewelry made from the stones of the quarries where Vampires lived.

Come to think of it, if all of the Arcane Creature's ways of celebrating were fused together, it was almost like one big party.

She wished humans had their own way of celebrating this, just to add something to the fun, but this wasn't their holiday. She wasn't the only human in the group though. Pearl, Greg and Bismuth were also human, Steven being half Wizard, Carnelian being half Werewolf and Skinny being born a human, but bitten and turned into a Vampire in her youth.

Everyone in the group was treated as an equal, no one would ever be left behind, or forgotten.

The blonde jumped when Amethyst made a loud squawk sound from her makeshift stage. "Okay guys come here if you wanna play!" She called to them, and mostly everyone stepped forward towards her.

Peridot leaned over to her girlfriend and whispered in her ear. "What?"

The sweet Siren's gills were fluttering as she bounced on her heels again, a huge grin in her face as she hugged the taller girl's arm. "It's the scavenger hunt, Rose started it, now Amethyst is continuing it! We have to find things she put out in the forest, it's a way to get all creatures to play together, cooperate and encourage inter-species friendships." Lapis explained. "It's a sacred Hallowtide tradition now, since Rose was our Queen."

The blonde nodded and listened to her friend up on stage, Pearl standing proudly beside her holding Opal in her arms, the baby sleeping peacefully. "Okay, so I know most of you guys know the rules, but I'm gonna say them again for new people. I hid things in the forest, each thing has a glowing coloured paper on it. You guys are gonna team up with someone NOT from your own species, and work together to find it. You have to find the one that matches the colour of the papers that Aquamarine, Ruby and Sapphire will give you. Everyone meet back here before the moon is all the way up, got it?"

Cheering roared through the crowd. Apparently the way a Spirit type of monster would celebrate involved colourful paper and wishing, along with something about stars. Aquamarine unfurled her fluffy dark blue wings and started quickly handing out papers, along with Sapphire in her wolf form with Ruby riding on her back handing them out with a smile.

Lapis had grabbed hers, a teal slip. Peridot stared at it before looking at the blue haired woman nervously. "So... I can go with you, right?" The Romani girl asked. Lapis lifted an eyebrow and nodded like that should have been obvious from the start, the Siren getting on her tiptoes and giving her a sweet kiss.

She felt the tan girl's hand grab her own, and suddenly Peridot was being pulled into the forest by her very excited girlfriend, the others in the group following soon after. They all split up into different teams, Peridot wasn't really paying attention.

The blonde was hardly looking for anything anymore, the moon was getting higher and higher as the two lover ran through the forest, and Peridot couldn't help but notice just how beautiful Lapis looked in the silver light of the almost full moon.

Its bright pale glow shone in her bright blue eyes, making them twinkle like little stars, her tan skin was so soft and smooth, the freckles on her round cheeks were so cute looking, Lapis' darkish blue hair fell in those wonderful soft curls that framed her heart-shaped face just right, and they had turned a gleaming silver in the moonlight. Little blue wisps floated through the forest, glowing balls of cold fire made by none other than Ruby herself to make sure no one got lost, the tiny blue flames danced on the enchanting Siren's skin, just as alluring as her song.

"Lapis..." Peridot murmured, her mate had found an odd little pink orb, a teal paper that had been dipped in the slime from the Phos Caverns was attached to it. The blonde slipped her hands around Lapis' waist, making the shorter woman squeak in surprise and delight. "I love you, you know that, right?" She asked, breathing in her sweet scent. Pastries, milk, berries, peaches and honey.

She felt Lapis shiver, the blue haired girl's face burning so badly Peridot could feel it when she nuzzled against her neck. Lapis groaned loudly when the taller girl pressed kisses to her sensitive gills. "Y-yeah, I know." She stammered. "I l-love you too Peri."

"Gods, you're so beautiful Lapis..." She stroked the Siren's ego, they all loved compliments. Her hands moved to press the shorter girl's back against her abs, smirking when she could feel Lapis' breath hitch. "My pretty little Siren."

Lapis shuddered and squeaked, gasping when the blonde gently nibbled on her neck. "M-my gills Peri, they bruise easy." She practically melted into the blonde's touch, Peridot's hands at her hips and slowly trailing up Lapis' stomach. She turned the Siren around and kissed her, slowly pulling her closer and swaying as she felt a familiar tongue poke her lips, asking to be let in.

The blue haired girl tasted like berry pastries, she clung to Peridot's shoulders and let the blonde pull them so close it was almost painful as her little pink tongue explored her mate's mouth, Lapis groaning softly and whining when she felt Peridot's hand on the back of her neck massaging her gills, the other hand on her lower back.

Eventually, the two broke apart for Peridot to breathe. She panted, tiring herself out by seducing the Siren left her cheeks flushed as she patted the shorter woman's butt. "We can continue later, if you want." The muscular woman whispered in Lapis' ear, and she nodded.

She picked up the blue haired girl, letting her rest a she carried her all the way back over to where Amethyst and the others were waiting.

Lapis, still in Peridot's arms, dropped the orb into a large cauldron. It bubbled, Amethyst warning everyone to stay back and Pearl forming a small wall around it so no one could get close.

Glittering streams flew up out of it, high into the air where they burst, a loud bang from each one and multicoloured sparkles crackling through the air. Peridot held Lapis close to her chest, the two sharing another kiss under the bright moon and bursts of colour.

"Happy Hallowtide."


End file.
